Come on Closer
by xLoveless19
Summary: It's been a few months since Naruto became a genin and was assigned to Team 7. When they go on another C-ranked mission Naruto had expected it to be another boring escort. However, the mission took a turn for the worst and Naruto suddenly found himself in the past. kakanaru
1. Chapter 1

**Ok well this is my very 1****st**** fanfic guys! I hope everyone enjoys it. I'm gonna thank Jannasaur for inspiring me a little to start my own kakanaru fanfic. There are a bit too many people writing Naruto as a girl! Stop it! DX Yaoi is sacred to us yaoi fans! ;D **

**Summary: It's been a few months since Naruto became a genin and joined Team 7. When they go on another C-ranked mission Naruto had expected things to go normally. He hadn't expected for the mission to turn bad and for him to suddenly end up in the past! kakanaru**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the **_**Naruto**_** characters. They all belong to Kishimoto-sama. We should all praise him for creating Naruto *-* **

~Come on Closer~

Just like any other day in Konoha, the village was bustling with lively people and everyone seemed to be in high spirits. Everyone but one genin team. Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto were all waiting for their sensei to show up and either tell them if they were going to train or do some sort of mission.

All of them had scowls on their faces while their anger simmered off of them into the afternoon heat. The trio was just about ready to tear each others heads off. Kakashi was even later than usual. Ordinarily, he was about two to about three hours late. Today it was nearing four hours, which caused each genin to inwardly vow that they would get back at their sensei, one way or another.

'_Ugh, I should know better than to arrive at the meeting point on time by now! Kaka-sensei is always late no matter what!' _Naruto seethed. His pent up anger could probably rival whatever the Uchiha a few feet away from him was feeling. Naruto could just feel the murderous intent rolling of his teammate in waves.

Just when the three genin were about to erupt they all heard a small inaudible poof off to their side. Three sets of eyes turned to look at where the noise originated. Sure enough their was their sensei.

"YOU'RE LATE!" Naruto and Sakura both chorused.

"Maa maa, sorry about that but you see the new Icha Icha movie came out today and I just had to go see it before the tickets were sold out." Kakashi gave them his infamous eye-smile while his students gave him deadly glares.

"LIAR!" However as Naruto yelled this with Sakura, he couldn't help but think that maybe this time his sensei was telling the truth. When it came to those dreadful books Kakashi was the number one consumer of them.

As Kakashi began to inform them of the mission they would be doing today Naruto partially zoned out. It has been about four months since he became a genin and team seven was formed. And of course, it has been about four months since he found out about _that_.

Ever since Mizuki revealed to him about the Kyuubi Naruto hadn't been in the best state of mind. Sure he kept up his mask of carefree cheerfulness but on the inside he was a hurricane of negative emotions.

He was happy that Iruka finally passed him and became a genin. It meant that he was one step closer to his goal of becoming Hokage! That success had been dampened by learning what he was and why the villagers tormented and hated him so much. It made him feel lonelier than ever when he hoped that, among other things, would change once he became a genin.

'_So much for that hope,' _Naruto thought bitterly.

Being on the same team as Sasuke didn't help matters. He hated it. Sakura he didn't mind, he did have a crush on her, after all. It really wasn't as big as he made it out to be though. He just thought she was really pretty and smart, but personality wise-well he just wished she was sweeter. Despite the girl she was constantly beating him up and rejecting him he couldn't help how he felt sometimes.

Then there was Kakashi. Being the prankster that he was and how much snooping he did around the village, he had of course heard of the famous copycat-ninja Kakashi Hatake.

He had just never seen the man during his academy days. When he first laid eyes on Kakashi he had really been expecting a more refined, war-experienced shinobi. Not some white haired dude who looked like he was bored all the time and had about two thirds of his face covered up.

To say that Naruto's excitement deflated would be an understatement. He didn't show it other than the prank he had pulled on the scarecrow. The blonde only wanted to test the skill of his new sensei. The jounin had failed miserably unfortunately. He could admit that he had underestimated Kakashi though. After seeing the man in action in their mission to the Land of Waves, his impression on the man changed.

He admired him a heck of a lot more and really did see him as a role model. Though, when he noticed Kakashi paid more attention to that bastard on his team he couldn't help but feel disappointed and jealous. He still looked up to his sensei, but he didn't exactly like him. His sensei played favorites and hardly helped him out. He probably thought Naruto as a dead-last too. Sometimes he would give Naruto some advise and insight to whatever he was having trouble with but it wasn't enough.

Even Sakura got more attention than he did. And this was why Naruto was loud and obnoxious. He craved attention and he wanted nothing more than to be acknowledged by his sensei. Just some form of praise. Even if Kakashi wasn't his favorite person in the world, he still wanted to be noticed.

"So that's what our mission consists of for today. Just a simple C-rank that should be completed sometime this evening."

Naruto snapped out of his daze and shifted his attention to his sensei. During his brooding thoughts he did hear Kakashi say something about escorting a merchant to the borders of Fire Country and River Country. To keep up with his idiotic act Naruto whooped.

"Finally! Another C-rank mission! I'm gonna outshine Sasuke-teme today! Dattebayo!"

"Hn, in your dreams dobe." Sasuke sent Naruto one of his infuriating smirks.

"What'd you say teme!" In truth, whatever that bastard said didn't get on his nerves nearly as much as he made it seem. But sometimes that smirk did irritate him. It made him feel inferior somehow and he couldn't stand that.

"Naruto shut up! Your voice is way too loud and don't call Sasuke-kun such crude names!"

And there goes Sakura defending the asshole. It was like a ritual of some sort. Naruto would act his usual annoying self, Sasuke would give some snarky remark to his behavior, Naruto would retort back and before he could get much in edge wise Sakura would come in and yell at him for even talking back to her beloved Sasuke.

To be honest, even though Sakura always shot Naruto down when he asked her out, Naruto thought that Sakura got rejected a lot worse when it came to Sasuke. Oh well, hopefully one day she'd see past her delusions of the teme.

"But Sakura-chan! Sasuke started it!" Naruto whined.

"Can it Naruto! You always blame Sasuke-kun for everything!" Sakura raised her fist at Naruto, threatening to pound his face in if he complained about Sasuke one more time. He scoffed on the inside.

"Okay team let's not dawdle. We need to meet up with out client at the gates." Kakashi instructed. With that said, the jounin took off towards the village gates with his prized book in hand. The genin followed suit.

The walk to the gates was short and when they got there, their client was already waiting for them. He was a short man who looked middle aged. He had a kind but forgettable face and as they approached him he waved.

"Hello Koenma-san. I'm Kakashi and this is my team. We will be escorting you today." Kakashi greeted the man after putting his book away. The man gave him a peculiar look after he saw the title of said book. Who could blame him.

"Yes thank you Kakashi-san. I'm very grateful for you and your team to be helping me out." The older man smiled up at Kakashi but gave the rest of his escorts a nervous look. Well even though this was a C-rank mission, things could go wrong and this man was putting his life in the hands of one jonin and three 12 year-old genin. Not that they weren't incapable of handling dangerous tasks. The mission to the Land of Waves was a success after all due to all of their cooperation and teamwork.

"Lets head out now shall we?" Kakashi took his position in the back of the group while the three genin all got into formation. Sasuke in front while Naruto and Sakura flanked Koenma's sides.

For a few hours everything went smoothly. Sakura would, as usual, start a casual conversation with the client and Naruto would sometimes butt in. Sasuke remained quiet through it all and stayed on guard while Kakashi read his book. From what Naruto could sense, there was no danger.

As they were nearing the borders to Fire and River country, Naruto sensed it. There were three other shinobi tracking them. He glanced back at Kakashi and saw that he too noticed however, Sasuke, Sakura and the client remained oblivious. Naruto had Kyuubi to thank for his heightened senses. It was only because of the bijou's power that he was able to detect the approaching enemies. Before Naruto could say anything, Kakashi cut him off.

"Everyone be on your guard. We're being followed."

Whatever Sakura was about to say died on her lips as she tensed. Even though she was used to enemy attacks thanks to their last mission she still got nervous. Sasuke didn't say anything, but his hand did move closer to his weapons pouch. Koenma-san went silent and looked everywhere around him.

For awhile everyone remained silent, intent on keeping track of their followers. However, almost instantly the enemy shinobi's presence vanished.

'_That's odd.' _Naruto had been keeping track on their chakra signatures' and felt uneasy at their sudden disappearance. They continued on for half hour when Naruto felt a presence for a spilt second. Before he could even comprehend what was happening, they were under attack.

As kunai and shurikan rained down upon them, Naruto and Sakura quickly grabbed onto Koenma and took cover while Sasuke and Kakashi took into the trees. Originally Naruto had only felt three shinobi following them but now, there were five. None of them appeared to be wearing a village headband either.

"Naruto! Sakura! Stay with Koenma and don't get caught off guard!" Kakashi kicked one of the enemies away and attacked two nearby as he shouted out his order. Naruto saw Sasuke off up in the trees hurling kunai at two of the other shinobi, using his sharingan to keep him one step ahead of them.

'_Tch, it figures Kaka-sensei has to order us to keep on our guard and not Sasuke.' _Naruto pushed the ugly thought away and tried to focus on his surroundings for any surprise attacks. He kept an eye on Sasuke's and Kakashi's battle while he and Sakura stood on both sides of Koenma, armed with a kunai.

It was when Sasuke flipped backwards to dodge one of the enemies attacks that Naruto noticed it. Sasuke was keeping up blow for blow with two of the shinobi while Kakashi was fighting another two.

'_Where's the fifth shinobi?!' _

Just as Naruto realized the absence of the fifth, he heard a few kunai whistling through the air towards him. He threw some shurikan at them and deflected the knives in midair. Naruto spun around towards Sakura and saw the enemy behind her and Koenma.

"Sakura! Look out!" He grabbed a few more kunai and threw them at the shinobi, but they were easily dodged. Sakura tried to attack him, charging head first with a kunai in hand. The enemy easily side stepped her and knocked her off balance with a sweep of his foot at her feet. He caught the ends of her hair roughly and flung her off to the side. Koenma backed up as the enemy nin advanced on him.

"Tajuu! Kage bushin no jutsu!"

Before the shinobi could do any harm to the old merchant, a few dozen of clones appeared and charged at the startled ninja. He jumped up into the trees to avoid the clone's attacks and started to pick them off by using the branches to his advantage. Only a few of Naruto's clones could reach him at a time as they were all trying to avoid colliding into each other.

While his clones were having a bit of trouble trying to land a hit on this guy, the shinobi started to make his way towards the original.

Seeing this Naruto decided to take some evasive action. He pulled out a couple kunai and wrapped an explosive tag on both of them. The enemy nin was only a few yards away up in the trees when a couple of Naruto's clones ambushed him from above to distract him. When his attention was taken off of the original, Naruto threw both the kunai up at the shinobi and ran towards Sakura and Koenma to take cover again. The shinobi avoided one of the kunai but the other got embedded into his thigh and before he knew it, both of them exploded instantaneously.

All the surrounding ninja in the area immediately scattered so as not to get caught in the blast. After a few minutes nothing was heard except the sound of falling trees and branches. Naruto gave a little sigh, glad that he avoided whatever that shinobi was about to do when he heard Sakura scream next to him. He whipped his head around so fast that he felt a sharp pain sting in his neck and looked towards what Sakura was pointing at. His eyes widened.

What he saw had him sucking in his breath harshly. On the ground a few feet away lay the shinobi that had been attacking him. At least, half of him was there. His lower half was no where to be seen and there was blood everywhere. Naruto turned away sharply and retched. This was the first time he had ever killed somebody.

"I can't believe I…I hadn't really meant to…" Naruto felt like he was about to hyperventilate. His stomach felt heavy and empty yet he continued to dry heave. In the deepest part of his mind he knew that ninja were taught to kill and it was just in the nature of a shinobi to do that. Hell, the higher ranked ninjas were almost always sent out on assassination missions! Naruto knew all that, but he wasn't even close to being prepared to actually kill someone! He had just graduated from the academy a few months ago!

"You little bastard!" One of the enemy shinobi saw the little runt take out one of his comrades and in a blind rage lunged towards Naruto, ready to rip off his head. Kakashi took off trying to intercept the enemies attack but one of the other enemy nin attacked him.

Naruto felt weak and looked up and saw the ninja descend upon him and perform some weird jutsu. Sakura had already gotten up to pull Koenma out of the way.

"Naruto! Move!" Sakura yelled out at him. Finally coming to his senses Naruto shakily got up to his feet and tried to do another kage bushin. As the blonde was about to perform his signature jutsu, he saw Sasuke come into view. The Uchiha threw a few shurikan at the approaching shinobi. Even though Sasuke succeeded in messing up his aim the ninja still crashed down into Naruto and his jutsu erupted.

There was a flash of bright light that blinded everyone for a few seconds. After it faded Kakashi swooped in and slit the throat of the shinobi who was about to kill Naruto. The other three ran off into the forest.

"Is everyone all right?" Kakashi stood up and surveyed the area. He could see Sakura and Koenma crouched down besides one of the fallen trees and Sasuke was hanging upside down on one of the branches above him. But he couldn't see Naruto anywhere. A bit of panic clenched inside the copy nin's chest.

"Where's Naruto?"

Sasuke, Sakura and Koenma looked all around them but couldn't find their blonde comrade. Sakura did find his headband laying on the ground, but still no Naruto. Kakashi kneeled next to the shinobi he had just killed and examined his hands.

'_He was about to execute a strange jutsu before he collided into Naruto.' _He began to worry that much more. Guilt soon took the place of worry. He saw how well Naruto performed his duties in protecting Koenma and Sakura, as well as trying to keep the enemy away.

The second he saw that kunai wrapped in a paper bomb impale into the enemy's leg he knew that was the end of him. He was proud of Naruto, even though he had just killed another ninja, the genin still did needed to be done.

However, he hadn't fully expected Naruto's reaction. When he saw his face, completely speechless and horrified he felt bad for him. Unfortunately, taking the life of another was a part of a ninja's responsibility and Kakashi planned to help the boy cope with it after the mission.

Now he couldn't. Naruto was gone and he had no idea what happened to him. He didn't believe that the genin was dead, but who knew?

'_I should of ran to his side the second I saw how stunned he was. I could of protected him from what the other shinobi while he was in such a vulnerable state.' _

Kakashi closed his one eye tightly for a few seconds then opened it to stare at his two remaining students.

"Kakashi-sensei, what should we do? I can't sense Naruto's chakra anywhere." Sakura's eyes glassed over from a couple unshed tears. She was beyond concerned for her teammate, she was scared for him. Even if Naruto got on her nerves a lot she didn't want to anything bad happen to him. Sasuke wasn't any better. He was fidgeting and he looked distraught. His blonde rival was missing and even when he came down to save him, it wasn't enough. Naruto was gone.

Kakashi performed a few hand signs and summoned his ninja hounds. Pakkun and his pack appeared before them.

"Yo Kakashi! What's up?" Pakkun greeted while his pack all turned towards their master expectantly.

"Pakkun, I need you and your pack to search for Naruto. He's gone missing." Kakashi took Naruto's headband from Sakura and held it out to his ninja dogs to sniff and get accustomed to its scent.

Pakkun gave Kakashi a worried look. "You mean that blonde kid on your team?" He looked over to see just Sasuke and Sakura.

"Yes. This guy," Kakashi pointed to the ninja he had killed, "tried to hit Naruto with a strange jutsu, but didn't exactly succeed. Instead his body rammed into him and a bright light engulfed the area. After the light dispersed, Naruto was gone."

Pakkun stared at the fallen shinobi and then looked back up to his master. "We'll try our best to locate him."

With that said Pakkun and his pack scattered in different directions in hope to cover as much ground and to catch Naruto's scent. Kakashi then turned to the rest of his team and his client.

"The rest of us will continue on to our destination, we're almost there. Once we get Koenma-san there safely we'll search for Naruto."

All he got as a response was a soft 'hn' and a discouraged 'hai'. Kakashi knew his remaining students felt defeated. Even if they were about to complete their mission successfully, it just didn't feel like a victory if one of their teammates was missing.

'_Please be alright Naruto…' _

* * *

><p>'<em>Why do I feel like shit….' <em>Naruto groaned. His eyes felt heavy, his mouth was dry and his whole body ached. He slowly opened his eyes and stared up at the sky. He was lying flat on his back on the ground and from what he could tell by the sun, it was midday.

'_That's strange, we left the village around midday with our client. It should be nearing late evening by now.'_

Naruto sat up and automatically, flinching at the sharp pains pounding away in his head. He could hardly bear it. He grabbed onto his head and immediately felt that he didn't have his headband on. He looked around him, but couldn't find it.

"Damn it! That headband was special! Iruka-sensei gave it to me." Naruto sighed and tried to get up. He was a little wobbly but managed to stand up. He didn't see his teammates or sensei anywhere. In fact he was surprised to see that he was only a few miles away from the village.

'_How in the world did I get all the way back here….' _Naruto was a bit taken aback by all this until his mood darkened.

'_They didn't seriously just leave me out here by myself just cause I passed out! But wait, why did I pass out…' _Naruto couldn't remember much, but the most current events flashed into his mind and he gasped.

'_That's right….I killed someone.' _Naruto felt sick, but willed himself not to throw up again. Or dry heave as there wasn't anything left in his stomach. Trying to keep himself from falling over Naruto began his trek towards the Leaf village. He started to see the village gates in the distance as he drew nearer but as he did he couldn't stop the voices running in his head.

"_Murder! You're a murderer!"_

"_You deserve to die! Monster!"_

"_Demon! No one wants you around! Why don't you die!"_

"_The nine-tailed fox that destroyed our village is sealed within you. You are the nine tailed fox!" _

Everything that the villagers had said to him since he was young kept running through his head and made his headache even worse. As the voices grew louder he squeezed his eyes shut. They kept echoing away in his head until he suddenly tripped. When he fell he could smell and feel the blood running down his legs from his harsh fall, but he didn't care. Naruto just laid there feeling lifeless.

"They're all right. They were all right…I am a murderer." Naruto whispered to himself.

He was about to curl into a ball and cry when he a shadow fell over him. He looked up and saw a man. A leaf shinobi like himself.

"Hey there, you alright? You don't look too good." The man kneeled down next to Naruto and put a hand onto his shoulder.

Naruto shuddered. Not from fear, but from something else. Something he couldn't quite place. The man seemed eerily familiar. He had spiky blonde hair that reached up to his shoulders and blue eyes. He looked to be around his early twenties too. He continued to stare blankly at the man.

"Err…well can you say anything?"

The man was a little put off by the strange boy just staring at him like that. He had never seen the child in the village before. He had a weapons pouch that looked to still have some kunai and shurikan in it so the boy must have been a ninja, but he didn't have a headband. By the look of the boy, he leaf ninja assumed his fellow blonde couldn't have been more than a genin. All of that coupled with the fact that the boy was injured and alone seemed quite strange.

Hearing the man speak to him again snapped Naruto out of his trance.

"Uh yeah, I guess." Naruto looked down, suddenly very nervous. He had never seen this shinobi in the village before. Course he couldn't say he's seen all of Konoha's shinobi, some of them were anbu and did S-class missions for years so Naruto probably had just never seen him before.

"Ah well let's get you to the hospital. You have a few injuries that should get checked."

Naruto nodded and tried to get up, but his arms collapsed under his weight and fell face first into the ground. He groaned. The blonde tried again to lift himself only to hear the man beside him chuckle.

"Here, let me help you." The man suddenly picked Naruto up and placed him on his back and started walking towards the village. Naruto was a bit startled, he wasn't used to people helping him much less touching him without some ill intent. He instinctually tensed up.

The man felt the boy go rigid and tried to calm him down. "Relax, I'm not going to hurt you. By the way what's your name kid?"

Naruto hesitated for a moment before answering. "Naruto." He didn't say his last name because he didn't want the man to recognize him as the demon child if he suddenly gave him his whole name. Though the name Naruto wasn't very common so it was probably a lost cause on his case anyway.

"Naruto huh? Cute name, never heard someone with that one before. My girlfriend would probably fawn all over you. She loves ramen and the fish cakes in it."

Naruto blushed, no one had ever given him a compliment like that before. Back in the academy kids used to tease him for his name, calling him a fish cake. Sometimes he found it ironic since he loved ramen so much.

"Oh, uh, thanks um…shinobi-san." Naruto muttered, he was still a bit embarrassed at the compliment.

"Oh don't call me that, my name's Minato." The man turned his head and smiled at Naruto, which only turned into a grin when he saw the kid's blush.

'_Minato….that name sounds so familiar…' _Naruto tried to remember where he heard that name when he caught Minato grinning at him.

"What's with the grin!" Naruto scowled, not liking the man's expression. Minato just laughed.

"Sorry was I grinning? It was only because of the blush on your face!"

Naruto sputtered, way more embarrassed now than he was before. "I w-wasn't blushing!"

"You weren't? Then why is your face so red?"

"It's not red! Something must be wrong with your eyes cause I'm not blushing!" Naruto huffed and turned his head away. Minato wanted to laugh again but held it in. The kid was just too cute especially when he was unknowingly pouting like that.

They made it into the village a few minutes later and Naruto couldn't help but feel strange. Something seemed different but he couldn't figure out what. The village was as lively as ever and everything looked the same. As they walked on towards the hospital Naruto noticed one of the things that was wrong.

'_No one is glaring at me. None of the villagers are giving me those hateful looks whenever they see me.' _

As they got closer to the hospital Naruto saw the Hokage tower come into view and then looked passed it towards the Hokage monument with a gasp.

'_Where is the Fourth Hokage's face!? It wasn't engraved into the mountain!' _

Minato heard Naruto gasp and looked at him. "What's wrong kiddo?"

Naruto's gaze snapped to Minato's and blurted out what he was thinking. "Where's the 4th Hokage's face on the monument?"

Minato gave him a strange look and said, "The Third Hokage hasn't elected his successor yet."

Naruto looked confused for a few seconds when it finally dawned on him. He was in the past! And the guy that was carrying him to the hospital, Minato, was the Fourth Hokage! At least in his time he was. Then he realized how screwed he was. If he was in the past then he shouldn't of blurted that out, he might mess up the time line or something. He didn't really understand the whole domino effect, but he understood enough to know he needed to be a lot more careful. He tried to come up with a lie fast.

"Uh yea, sorry, I don't know what I was thinking. I guess my mind is a bit scrambled from hitting my head on the ground earlier. Couldn't really tell where I was for a second. Ehehehe…"

After saying that Naruto suddenly thought of how that just made him sound like. An outsider. Minato was gazing forward and the humor that surrounded them suddenly vanished.

"Ne, Naruto, where did you come from?" The way Minato asked that sent a couple of chills down Naruto's spine. Now he knew he was in some deep shit.

"I…uh…" Before he could blurt anything else out Minato cut him off.

"Never mind, save it. Sorry but I'm going to have to take you to see the Hokage. I noticed your wounds don't seem to be too bad, so they can wait." Minato then changed his course to the Hokage tower. Naruto gulped, he didn't know what was going to happen. He just hoped everything turned out alright for him.

'_I wish, I always seem to get into shitty situations like this….' _

_._

_._

_._

_._

TBC…

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Well that's the 1****st**** chapter. I can't **_**believe**_** how long I spent on this! x.x I started it at like 4pm and now its 2 in the morning! O.o Well I did stop a bunch of times. Ate, slept, watched tv, read some fan fiction. So yeah, probably wouldn't of taken so long if I had stayed focused lol. **

**Well, I'm going to warn everyone now. I am a college student and have work to do. So updates won't be that frequent. I'm gonna say I'll probably update either once a week to once a month. Though I'm giving myself up to one month cause I'm sure I'll squeeze in a couple chapters in that time. I just want to give myself that amount of time lol. **

**I'll also try to give a heads up if a chapter may take a little longer to come out. This is my first fanfic and I want to do it well! There aren't a lot of good **_**yaoi**_** kakanaru fanfics out there. Lately I've been seeing a lot of them with Naruto as a female. STOP IT! DX Kishimoto-san made him a boy! That's right, someone with that down there! **

**I know people are free to write what they want and how they want it but come on….I don't mind seeing a few fanfics like that, I just skip over them, but when I see a ton of them and cant find any good ones that I haven't already read I get mad! it's actually the reason I decided to write my own. At 1****st**** I never wanted to even write a fanfic, I enjoy just reading them and committing myself isn't one of my strong points but I guess this will help me work on that lol. **

**And I try to keep everyone in character so if you think they're a bit OOC let me know. Though I might give a reason to how they're acting. Naruto for instance, is being a little angst in his thoughts. On the outside I'm still trying to make him appear as what the manga/anime made him to be. **

**Personally I hate how stupid Naruto can be in the show but I still love him to pieces. So I like to give him a little bit more depth. Ok well, review please! I'd like to see what people think of it and to point out any errors. I know I probably made some spelling mistakes or even grammar, but I promise I will improve! Thank you :3 **

***Also thanks to ItachiUchiha17 for being my beta reader! =) **

**I'll be posting the edited chapters here and there and chapter 14 will be up soon! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Oh wow thanks so much for everyone who reviewed the fanfic so far! Now I know why authors love them so much, it really does brighten your day! X3 It gives you the fuel to push on forward to update sooner! lol Here's chapter 2! Hope you all enjoy! 3 **

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto and probably never will. A girl can dream though ;3 **

~Come on Closer~

It was nearly nightfall and there was still no sign of their blonde teammate. Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura finally got Koenma to his destination safely and after a few goodbyes and 'good luck' wishes from Koenma, the team set out in search of Naruto. Pakkun met up with them and reported to Kakashi of their progress.

"We've been searching everywhere within the area for Naruto but we can't find his scent anywhere except from the spot he was last seen in, and your journey from the village." Pakkun gave his master a sad look, knowing that if he or any of his pack members couldn't locate Naruto with their keen senses, then there was a very slim chance of ever finding him.

Kakashi looked a bit grim and sighed. He looked up at his two students and saw them waiting for his next order. He didn't like what he was about to tell them.

"Alright then, for now we're going to head back to the village and report this to the Hokage. Then we can-"

Both Sasuke and Sakura looked up at him angrily and Sakura cut him off, "Are you really saying to just leave Naruto behind! We can't just abandon him!"

Kakashi sighed and tried to reason with her, "Sakura, it's almost nightfall and those enemy nin are still lurking about out there. I don't want to take the chance of them coming back and performing that jutsu again on anyone!"

Sasuke just sneered at him. "We can handle them. Two of them are dead and the ones that escaped were badly injured anyway. They wouldn't be stupid enough to come back so soon."

Kakashi was beginning to lose his patience with them. He wanted nothing more than to search under every rock and behind every tree in the hopes of finding even just a small trace of the blonde that could lead them to where he was. But he had to be responsible and think of the safety of his remaining genin.

"I said that we were going back to the village to report to the Hokage. What I say is final!"

"What about what you told us on our first day of becoming genin sensei! You said that Those who break the rules are scum. But those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum!" Sakura had begun to cry as she said this, she didn't know what to think if they really had to leave Naruto behind. But after saying that something in Kakashi seemed to snap.

"We are not abandoning him! We need professional shinobi to search for him. A jonin and two genin aren't going to make a lot of progress. Now I don't want to hear another word out of you two, we're going back to the village now!"

Kakashi had never really lost his temper with them before. Not like that and it stunned both Sasuke and Sakura. Even Pakkun cowered behind them a little. Looking down they followed their sensei back to the village.

* * *

><p>The 3rd Hokage gazed at one of his best shinobi and the little mystery that he brought in with him. This young boy looked beyond nervous but seemed to be trying his best to compose himself. With the war going on between Konoha and Iwagakure, he didn't want to take any chances with this child in case he was a spy. If he was a spy, he had to say that something had to be wrong with the Tsuchikage's head to send a genin. Whatever the case was, the Hokage tried to give the child a reassuring smile. Sometimes just being nice got people to reveal secrets faster.<p>

"Well from what Minato tells me, he found you injured outside the village walls and you're clearly a ninja. Care to explain your situation?"

To say that Naruto was a bit overwhelmed with the course of events would be an understatement. He was panicking. He was trying very hard not to show it on the outside. Kami knows what would happen to him if they found him too suspicious and sent him to Ibiki to torture.

'Anything but that!' Naruto looked off to the side and tried to think of a good lie. He wanted to it to sound believable. If he remembered correctly from Iruka-sensei's history lessons then the time-frame he was in right now was in the middle of the Third Shinobi World War.

'Well this just sucks. I can't say I'm from this village in the future. They'll think I'm a loony and send me to Ibiki. And there aren't many villages that we aren't at war with. Iwakagure definitely is out of the question. I should probably go with a low populated village.'

Naruto took a deep breath and looked up into the Hokage's eyes. He wanted to sound as truthful as possible and hope that he would be allowed to stay in Konoha.

"I'm from the Hidden Grass village. I became a genin just a few months ago and since our village is so low on shinobi they've been sending genin and their jonin instructors out on missions for the war."

Naruto could see Minato shift somewhere off to his side. He couldn't see his face and only hoped that he and the Hokage believed him.

"I see. What was the mission you were sent out on?"

Naruto couldn't read the expression on the Hokage's face. As far as he could tell it was blank, but Naruto didn't falter.

"Well we were suppose to trail some of Iwakagure's shinobi and infiltrate any of their hideouts. One of their hideouts was somewhere within Fire Country but before we could locate it we were attacked by them. After the attack I don't know what happened. When I woke up I was near the gates of this village."

The Hokage sat back in his seat and hummed. While their biggest enemy at the moment was Iwa, he didn't know why grass shinobi were getting involved. Iwa was their enemy too but Iwa had way more troops than the Grass village did. Their country was much too small and their kage should know better than to go after shinobi from a country five times it's own size.

"It's very strange how you ended up outside our village. Do you have any idea what might of happened to your team?"

"No Hokage-sama."

"Well, Konoha has no ill intents against the hidden grass village. One of our shinobi could escort you back to your village."

Minato looked up at the Hokage as he suggested that. He had nothing against it but he didn't feel right about it. There was just something about Naruto that seemed familiar to him. Nevertheless, he knew that Naruto should go back to his own village.

"Hokage-sama if we're going to have Naruto escorted back to his village could I take on this mission? Also this could be a good chance for us to make some ties with the grass village-"

"NO!"

Both Minato and the Hokage looked startled and stared at Naruto.

"I don't want to go back to that village." If Minato went with him there and discovered he had been lying that could cause even more problems.

Minato glanced Naruto nervously and back at the Hokage when he spoke.

"Why don't you want to go back? Don't you want to see your comrades again?"

Naruto bit his lip. He hadn't meant to blurt that out but he needed some kind of excuse. Then he remembered his childhood in Konoha.

"I hate it there. To be honest I'm glad my teammates disserted me. Life there was a living hell."

The 3rd Hokage studied Naruto. He was trembling and seemed to really despise his village. In all, he felt bad for the boy.

"Well, that's very sad to hear. A shinobi is suppose to be loyal to their village and die for it no matter what."

"I know that but, if you're not strong they just leave you behind. I don't want to be in a village where I'll just get abandoned again if I'm not strong enough! I would never do that to anyone if I had any true friends."

The Hokage was silent. After debating and staring at the boy for a few minutes he finally spoke.

"Well I must say Naruto. I like your spirit. You seem to be very passionate about comradeship and that's a true shinobi trait. If you'd like you can start over here in the Leaf village as a genin."

Naruto's head shot up in disbelief. Convincing the Hokage like that seemed too easy but he couldn't of been happier!

"You mean it?"

"Of course. In fact, I already know a suitable team of genin you can join."

Naruto was so happy he couldn't contain it. "Yes! Thanks Jii-chan!"

Minato gapped and the Hokage sputtered. "Naruto, that's not very polite of you to say…"

Minato stopped short when he heard the Hokage laugh. "That's quite alright Minato-san. The boy is just happy. Now Naruto, I'll have to fill out some papers for you to be a full Konoha citizen. Could you tell me your surname and date of birth?"

Naruto stopped the little happy dance he had been doing. Should he tell them his last name? In his time no one had the name Uzumaki but now that he was in the past…'My parents might be here as well!' He shouldn't take the chance of giving away his surname

just in case one of his parents were living somewhere here in Konoha.

"I don't have a surname Jii-chan. I'm an orphan, I don't know who my parents were."

"Oh, well…I'm sorry to hear that."

After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence Naruto decided to break it. "It's alright. Even though I never knew them I don't let that get me down. And my birthday is October tenth. And I'm twelve."

"You're twelve? You look kind of small for your age." Minato was only musing to himself and hadn't realized he said that out loud.

"So! I still have a lot of growing up to do so I won't be small for long! I'll be just as tall as you!" Naruto snapped out in anger. He really did hate it when people called him out on his height. He knew he was short for his age but he couldn't help it since he was malnourished.

Minato held up his hands in a surrendering gesture and bit back a laugh. "Gomen, gomen! I hadn't meant to say that out loud. By the way Hokage-sama, when you mentioned that you had a perfect genin team in mind did you mean mine?"

"Yes. Since your student Kakashi is about to become a jonin now that leaves just Obito and Rin. Even though Kakashi will still be assisting you on missions, you still have an incomplete genin team. If you wouldn't mind I'd like to assign Naruto to your squad."

At the mention of his sensei from his time Naruto's mouth almost dropped. 'Kaka-sensei's teacher was the great 4th Hokage?' Excitement started to run through Naruto's veins. He was going to be on the same team his sensei was on and be taught by none other than Konoha's legendary hero!

"Of course Hokage-sama. I think Obito and Rin wouldn't mind having a new teammate. They especially need one to complete their team if they want to join the Chuunin exams."

"Splendid! While I set up Naruto's paperwork you should bring him down to the training grounds to meet your squad." The Hokage paused for a second. "Also, before you go we should discuss Naruto's living arrangements."

Minato looked over at the overly ecstatic genin. He was so wrapped up in his own little world he wasn't paying attention to the conversation. He smiled.

"I wouldn't mind him coming to live with me for awhile. Kushina refuses to live with me for whatever reason at the moment so Naruto can take the spare room."

At the mention of his name and who he'd be living with for awhile Naruto suddenly

threw himself at Minato and hugged him tightly.

"Thank you Minato-sensei! Thank you so much! I'm gonna be a Konoha ninja! Dattebayo!" Naruto let go and jumped up and down all around the office, too thrilled with everything that he didn't notice Minato's shocked face.

'I've only ever heard Kushina say that phrase…' However he beamed. He could tell that Naruto was a good kid and was pretty delighted himself that he now had a little roommate. He knew that Kushina was going to adore him when they met too.

"Alright then get out of my office you two! I have paperwork that needs to get done." The Hokage ushered them out and Minato and Naruto were on their way to the training grounds. Naruto couldn't stop the bounce in his step and every few minutes he would prattle on to himself and partially to Minato about how excited he was and how he couldn't wait to go on a real mission and to meet his new teammates.

Minato just gave a wide smile and would laugh at Naruto's cute antics. Almost everything the boy did was cute to Minato. About half way to the training grounds Minato stopped, having remembered something.

"Naruto I almost forgot! We should get you to the hospital to check up on those wounds."

Naruto faltered in his step and looked up at his new sensei with a grimace. "But sensei, I'm fine now. I really don't want to go to the hospital." And he seriously didn't. Naruto hated hospitals. He had a slight phobia for it. He didn't like putting his trust into those medic nins and nurses and letting them treat his wounds or give him medicine. For all he knew they were trying to harm him by giving him the wrong medication. It had happened a few times when he was younger.

"Now Naruto you shouldn't let your injuries go unattended like that. You should take better care of your body and be more responsible." As Minato said this he reached for Naruto's left arm where he remembered seeing a gash. However, when he pulled his sleeve back it was gone. Minato blinked and ran his thumb over the soft skin. There wasn't even a scar left.

'That's weird. I know he had a pretty deep cut right here. There's still even blood left over on his sleeve.'

"Naruto what happened to the gash that was on your arm?" Minato kept inspecting it. He looked over to his right shoulder where he knew he saw another deep cut on but that too was gone.

"Um…it healed?" Naruto knew that he had abnormal healing abilities, and that it was all thanks to the demon that resided inside of him. But he would never reveal that secret. He was really hoping to start anew in this time. The villagers didn't know that he was a jinchuriki so this time around Naruto hoped to lead a better life.

"Do you have some type of special abilities for this that you know of?" Minato was still perplexed by this. Even if Naruto said it was a kekkai genkai, he'd have to do some serious research cause he had never heard of such an ability.

"No, I've just always had this capability. I wouldn't know if it was even a clan's ability either since I don't know anything about my family history." Lying seemed to get easier and easier now that he had a concrete base to work on. But he had to be careful and keep track of all his lies, he didn't want to get trapped into them one day.

"I see, well I guess I'll look into this later. For now you seem to be fine so we'll skip the hospital. I'm sure my team is getting restless by now after waiting for so long. I was suppose to meet them an hour ago."

'Though I wouldn't be surprised if Obito wasn't there yet.' Minato thought with a bit of annoyance. He'd been trying really hard to break his student out of that horrible habit but so far he hadn't made any progress yet.

When they finally got there Minato almost felt his eyebrow twitch. Sure enough Obito wasn't there yet but Rin and Kakashi were waiting there patiently. Rin looked up when she saw her sensei approaching and waved to them but stopped short when she saw a boy she'd never seen before. Kakashi looked up as well and glanced over at the new comer.

"Minato-sensei you're late. That's unusual for you. I hope you're not catching onto Obito's bad habits." Rin slightly teased.

"Certainly not, I just had some business to attend to." Minato looked over Rin and Kakashi. He was very proud of Kakashi since he was about to become a jonin. Rin was doing pretty well in her medical ninjutsu studies as well. He knew she would make a fine medic nin. As for Obito, well he was progressing in his own unique way. He'd probably be a little farther along in his training if he dedicated himself more. And speak of the devil, Minato could feel Obito's chakra signature approaching.

"Hey guys! Sorry I'm late but it's seems that I got lost on the path of life." Obito ran up to them with a big grin on his face but it vanished into a confused frown when he spotted Naruto.

"Who's that?" All the teens attention was back to Naruto.

When Obito had ran up to them and gave that stupid excuse Naruto was a bit flabbergasted. 'Kaka-sensei said the same exact phrase once! Plus he always arrives late to our teams meeting point, just like this guy just did.' When Naruto felt all eyes on him he unconsciously stiffened. All prior thoughts of excitement were gone, now he was nervous.

"Guys, I'd like you to meet Naruto. He's a genin and since Kakashi is going to become a jonin, Naruto will be joining our team." Minato placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder to reassure him. He could feel the boy's anxiety rolling off of him.

"What! We don't need a new member on our team! Plus I've never seen him before back at the academy." Obito stared intently at Naruto. He had nothing against him at all, he just found it weird that this blonde kid would suddenly show up when he had never seen him before.

"Obito don't be rude! You do need a new member if you and Rin hope to join the Chuunin exams when it comes up again. And Naruto isn't from Konoha. He's from the Hidden Grass village and due to some…causalities in Naruto's case he's going to become a full-fledged Konoha shinobi. I hope that you all welcome him warmly and treat him like one of us."

Obito flinched at his sensei's firm tone but brushed it off. He held out his hand to Naruto and beamed at him. Naruto looked up at Obito and then at his hand and after a few seconds, cautiously grabbed it. Obito gripped Naruto's hand firmly and shook it.

"Sorry about that, welcome to the team! I hope you know I'll kick your butt when we spar!"

Naruto couldn't help but grin. 'I think I'm going to like this guy.'

"Oh yeah? We'll see about that. I'm pretty good in taijutsu!" As Obito let go of Naruto's hand and turned around to greet Rin, Naruto saw the symbol on his back. 'He's apart of the Uchiha clan? Wow, he acts nothing like that bastard Sasuke!'

"Hello Naruto, I'm Rin. I hope we'll work well together as a team." Rin gave Naruto a soft smile and Naruto returned it. She seemed really nice too. Naruto was used to most girls being loud and aggressive, besides Hinata. In his time all the girls usually fawned over Sasuke and beat up Naruto whenever he said something bad about the teme.

Then he turned to Kakashi. All he did was stare at Naruto with a blank look. 'Kaka-sensei doesn't have the sharingan in his left eye…'

"Hn." That was all Kakashi said as he turned his head away and focused his attention on something else. As if it was way more interesting than Naruto himself. That ticked Naruto off slightly. 'He's just like Sasuke-teme.' Naruto thought bitterly.

Minato noticed Kakashi's behavior and sighed. He should of known Kakashi probably wouldn't take well to a new comer. Especially an outsider. Well he could only hope that as time went by he'd slowly except Naruto. Even if Kakashi was an excellent ninja and a genius in his own right, he still had a lot to learn about life in itself.

"Don't be such an ass Kakashi. Why don't you introduce yourself!" Obito noticed the cold shoulder that Kakashi was giving Naruto and didn't like it. Well, it was more that he just didn't like Kakashi's attitude in general and literally dreamed of putting the bastard in his place.

Kakashi sent a glare in Obito's direction and snorted. "There's no point in introducing myself since you already blurted out my name idiot."

Before Obito could let out his outburst Minato stepped in. "Well, now that we've all been acquainted why don't we go out for some ramen? I just got back from my mission earlier today and I don't have anything planned for you guys yet. Plus we can get to know Naruto a bit more too."

At the mention of ramen Naruto cheered. He wondered if Teuchi-jiisan would be there. Now that he thought of it, he would probably be a lot younger. And Ayame-neechan was either very young or hasn't even been born yet. Back in his time, those two were one of the few who were kind to him, and he couldn't wait to see them now, even if they wouldn't know him.

"Ramen again sensei? I think you only want to go there to see if Kushina is there." Rin gave Minato a knowing smile. Even if the entire village knew that the two were an item now, it was still funny how they interacted with each other. After being gone for awhile on missions they always pretended that they weren't purposely going to see the other, they'd instead _accidentally_ bump into one another in some place they were commonly found at. It was kind of stupid really but it was like a game to the two of them.

"What! I was only thinking of taking my wonderful team out for some of the best ramen! Naruto seems pretty excited about it." Minato started to walk off in the direction of Ichiraku's while hiding a grin. Naruto quickly followed after him while the rest of them dragged their feet behind them.

"That's because he doesn't know the hottest gossip going around the village at the moment. You and Kushina have weird ways of showing your affections for each other and everyone's noticed it." Obito walked up to Naruto and threw his arm around his shoulders.

"Ne, ne, I'll tell you everything there is to know about the village. Gossip, best training grounds, who to watch out for and secret tunnels that I discovered!" Naruto could see the mischief running in Obito's eyes and couldn't help but laugh gleefully, the mischief showing up in his eyes as well.

"As if he needs to be influenced by a dead-last like you. He'll probably get kicked out of the village if he hangs out with you and picks up on your bad habits." Kakashi sent a glare at Obito. He never liked how he was always breaking the rules and getting into trouble. If this Naruto character was going to be apart of the team, he certainly didn't want him to be like Obito. Unfortunately for him, Naruto and Obito were like two peas in a pod.

"He wouldn't get kicked out and I'd be a great Konoha role model for him."

Minato smiled as they approached the ramen stand. He was relieved that his team had accepted Naruto so warmly. Well, two thirds of his team anyway, but he was sure Kakashi would warm up to Naruto eventually. He tolerated Obito so he was bound to accept Naruto as well.

When they finally got to the stand they all took a seat. Naruto sat between Minato and Obito. It seemed that he didn't really want to leave Minato's side just yet, but was really getting along well with Obito. Kakashi took his seat next to Obito and Rin sat next to him. It seemed she still had that crush on Kakashi.

"Ah Minato how nice to see you. Though I'm sorry to say that Kushina isn't here." Teuchi came up and smiled at Minato who coughed into his hand.

"Why does everyone think that I try to meet her here! I'm only treating my team and our newest member to ramen." Minato looked away and muttered under his breath. "Though I had hoped she would be here."

Naruto didn't hear whatever Minato said. He was too stunned at how young Teuchi looked. He almost didn't hear the man talk to him.

"Oh ho, you do have a new team member. I must say he looks quite a bit like you Minato-san. What's your name son?"

Naruto was a bit taken aback. 'I look a little bit like the Yondaime?' A weird but good feeling crept through Naruto's chest when Teuchi made that observation. He felt Minato ruffle his hair and he snapped out of his daze and looked up at him to see a heartening smile. He looked away and smiled shyly before looking back up at Teuchi.

"My names Naruto." After he revealed his name Teuchi burst out laughing. Naruto's face went up into flames. He knew why he was laughing.

"Naruto, I see. Do you like ramen?" Teuchi starting to gather ingredients to start preparing.

Forgetting his embarrassment Naruto beamed. "Hai! I love ramen, it's the best food in the world. I'd like two bowls of miso ramen and another two bowls of barbeque pork!"

Minato sputtered. 'He eats as much as Kushina does!' "Naruto that's a lot can you really eat all that?" He sweat dropped, he could already tell he was going to go broke after this meal. Teuchi let out a loud laugh, he liked this kid a lot.

"I guess your name is very fitting for you then. Alright two orders of miso and two orders of barbeque pork coming up! What are the rest of you going to have?"

The rest of them all ordered one bowl of ramen and when their food was placed in front of them they couldn't help but be amazed at how fast Naruto could eat. With everyone's attention on the new genin, Kakashi quickly pulled down his mask and ate his ramen. When he was done he noticed that Naruto was already on his second bowl.

'Where does he put it all. He's like a bottomless pit.' Kakashi felt bad for Minato. Ramen wasn't expensive, but not exactly cheap when you buy a ton of bowls and with this kid now on the team Minato might actually make less trips to Ichiraku's. Which would probably break his heart since his main reason is always to try and find Kushina.

'This is actually probably a good thing. We always go out for ramen and I have to say I'm getting pretty sick of it.' Kakashi blinked when Naruto finished his last bowl. Not even the rest of his team was half way finished with their's. 'Well, he can certainly pack it away rather quickly.'

Kakashi glanced up at his sensei and saw the man try to refrain from gawking at Naruto. He was probably crying on the inside at the cost of the meal. He turned away and couldn't help the small grin on his face. He couldn't say he had fully accepted this newcomer just yet. He was an outside and could betray them one day, one could never know during these times of war. But the blonde was very interesting. Kakashi would be lying if he said he wasn't curious about Naruto's past.

Questions of why Naruto left his previous village and how he ended up here were primary thoughts in his head at the moment. And he couldn't shake the slight feeling of aversion towards him. To Kakashi, rules was his way of life and it governed every waking moment of it. The fact that Naruto abandoned his village and even joined a potential enemy to his village gave him a bad impression on the blonde.

Naruto was a very interesting but mysterious person. The blonde genin seemed to wear his emotions on his sleeve and Kakashi could easily read his face like a book but that was what made him suspicious. It could all just be a mask. He noticed the peculiar look he made when Teuchi said he looked like Minato. Anyone else could of thought the expression was just of mild surprise but Kakashi some something else flash through his eyes. Whatever it was he wanted to get to the bottom of it. It was his duty as a Konoha shinobi to protect his village from any potential threats.

"Well Naruto and I should be going. I need to help him out with a few things before it gets too late. Meet me at the training grounds tomorrow morning at 9 and Obito don't be late." With that said Minato paid the bill and assured Naruto to follow him.

The rest of the team went their separate ways. As Naruto followed Minato through the village he couldn't help but feel light-headed. So much had happened in just one day. He couldn't believe that this morning, in his time, he had been waiting for Kakashi to show up for them to start their mission. And from then on he ended up in the past. He had to say, this was probably the best thing that had ever happened to him. He never felt this happy before.

"Naruto you there?" Naruto blinked and looked up at Minato. Had he been spacing out again? He probably should stop doing that or they'll think something was wrong with him, or suspect him of something.

"You've been pretty quiet." Yep, that tone in Minato's voice was a bit controlled. He didn't want his new sensei to doubt him of anything.

"Sorry. I've just been thinking a lot. I guess I'm kind of overwhelmed with these turn of events."

Minato hummed and tousled Naruto's hair. "Are you happy?"

Naruto looked up at Minato, he wasn't quite sure what he had meant. His face was blank so he couldn't tell if there was a deeper meaning in the question.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, are you happy with joining this village? You just abandoned your old village and the people that you grew up with. Despite what you said earlier with the Hokage, are you sure you're happy?"

Naruto dropped his gaze. In a way he did feel like he just left his old village. Not Grass of course, but the village from his time. But he felt so more at home now than he did back then.

"I meant what I said back then. I hated it." Even if he always shouted out to everyone how he loved the village he knew he was lying. Who could love a village that treated him like a lowly animal. All he wanted was to be respected and looked up to. That was why he wanted to become the Hokage in his time. He always hoped that if eh did become the Hokage and people accepted him, then he would be able to love the village.

"I was always alone. I didn't have any parents and no one gave me a second glance cause I was an orphan. There were a couple people who were kind to me but, I cant say I'll miss them much at all." Naruto thought of Iruka-sensei and the Sandaime from his time. He would miss them terribly yes, but they were here in this time too. He could start all over again and that was one of the main reasons why he was so happy.

"But in all, I really am happy Minato-sensei. I've never felt so….accepted and at home before."

Minato looked down at the little blonde genin and saw in his eyes that he was truly sincere about it. He smiled sadly, wondering what he went through during his childhood to hate his own village.

"I'm glad to hear that. And no one will ever betray you Naruto and I certainly will never abandon you. I never give up and would do anything to protect those who are precious to me. That's my nindo, my ninja way."

Naruto felt tears prick at the back of his eyes but didn't let them fall. He vaguely remember Kakashi saying that he'd protect him and team 7 with his life back during the mission to the Land of Waves. But, no one ever included him as one of their precious people before. He felt like an emotional mess and he looked up at Minato with his eyes shimmering with tears.

"Thank you. No one's ever said that to me."

Minato gave Naruto a wide smile. Whatever this kid endured in his last village must have been tough for him to be so moved by what he said. With that thought in mind Minato really wanted to make Naruto's life and time in Konoha the best he's ever known. There was just something about him that made Minato want to look out for him. He nodded his head at Naruto and continued his way to his house.

"Come on kid, I need to get to my apartment and arrange stuff around so you'll feel more comfortable living there."

"Hai!" Naruto ran ahead of Minato even though he had no idea where the man lived, but he didn't care. He was happier than he's ever been.

'Things are finally looking up for me.'

.

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TBC…

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Damn, that took forever. Longer than before cause I made damn well sure I didn't leave any stupid mistakes. I literally banged my head on my desk when I reread the 1****st**** chapter. Though I bet there still are a few mistakes I overlooked. And to think I took AP English.**

**I also had to do a little Naruto research. I'm hell bent on keeping everyone in character, especially Minato. Since Naruto is in the past and this will turn into a KakaNaru fic in the future, I just thought I'd add in some family moments too. Naruto deserves it. **

**So there will be quite a few MinaNaru and KushinaNaru family moments while I build up the story to the KakaNaru romance. I'm trying to make it seem as realistic (in the Naruto universe) as possible if Naruto were to ever to meet his parents when he was younger. So just forget that whole episode where Naruto finally met his parents when he was about to release the Kyuubi and then later on tame him lol **

**Also I looked up the world map for Naruto and the location of the Hidden Grass village. I know that in Kakashi Gaiden that Kakashi and his team go to Kusagakure on a mission. I'm trying to fit the fanfic and actual Naruto storyline together. It's hard cause a lot of times I have to go back and fix things so everything will play out the way I want it without any mistakes lol And I found out that I like to bust out a chapter all in one go. **

**Well tomorrow I go back to class (cries) and I have an essay and other homework due then too. I'm such a procrastinator. This is why I wanted to get chapter 2 out. Cause I love you guys. I was surprised to see how many visitors I got for it. Yay! Thank you everyone! But I'm gonna be busy for a couple days so I'm going to try to get chapter 3 out either by the end of this week or next week. Please leave a review =D They make me warm and fuzzy inside =^^= **


	3. Chapter 3

**Remember when I said I was trying to make the fanfic as accurate as possible? Well I made a little mistake but its no real biggy. Apparently Rin and Obito were chuunin in Kakashi Gaiden and I made them genin. Oh well, I need them to be genin for Naruto to join their team anyway. lol **

**Again thank you to everyone who has reviewed! Here's chapter 3! **

**Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto, not me. But if it did belong to me then the whole show would be filled with yaoi goodness. *laughs evilly* **

~Come on Closer~

"So even your ninja hounds couldn't find a trace of Naruto." Sarutobi sat back in his seat and let out a long sigh. He was getting way too old for this job and it was stressful enough. Now that the little blonde gaki was missing he felt like he was going to erupt. Naruto was like a second grandson to him, a part of his family.

"Yes Hokage-sama. I take full responsibility for this and hope that Naruto can be found soon and brought back to Konoha safely." Kakashi and his students stood before the Hokage feeling weary. Sasuke and Sakura hadn't spoken a word to their sensei since he snapped out at them. Deep down they knew that he was trying to do what was best but they couldn't help but still feel a little bit resentful.

"This is a very serious problem as I'm sure you know," Sarutobi gave Kakashi a knowing look. It was bad enough that one of Konoha's ninjas had gone missing, yes, but it was even worse that the village's jinchuriki had disappeared as well. The council was going to go into an outrage.

"I am aware of this." Sasuke and Sakura could feel the tension in the room. There was something that the Hokage and their sensei were referring to that they didn't get.

"Well then, for now your team will be on a hiatus for missions until further notice. A team of anbu will be sent out to search for Naruto and I want you Kakashi to go with them to show them the exact spot Naruto disappeared in. Whatever that jutsu was, we may be able to find some clues from that area. Another team of anbu will be sent out to track down the remaining shinobi as well. You are dismissed."

Kakashi nodded his head towards the Hokage and left his office with his students behind him. As soon as they left the hokage tower Sakura finally spoke up.

"Kakashi-sensei? What do you want me and Sasuke-kun to do now?"

Kakashi glanced over at his students. They both looked exhausted and emotionally drained. He wouldn't be all that surprised if he was in a similar state himself.

"I don't know. I'll probably be gone for awhile. You two should just train together when you can. I'm sure sooner or later the Hokage may put either of you on other teams as a substitute once in awhile."

"Hn." Sasuke just huffed and took off onto the rooftops heading home. Sakura gazed after him but knew she shouldn't follow and try to give him any kind of support, he wouldn't accept it anyway. He was too far gone in his own brooding thoughts and probably didn't want to be bothered. He may be hiding it behind his anger but Sakura could tell that he was really torn up on the inside.

Sighing Sakura looked up at her sensei. "Do you think Naruto is alright Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi looked down at her and gave her one of his eye smiles. "I'm sure he's fine, you know him. It takes a lot for anything to take him down." Despite trying to reassure Sakura, Kakashi just couldn't seem to believe in his own words. He almost felt like he had just lied to her.

Sakura gave him a very small sad smile. She needed to hear those words from her sensei or she'd go crazy. She felt guilty and partially responsible for Naruto's disappearance. She had been standing right next to him before she pulled Koenma out of the way when that ninja was about to attack.

'Why didn't I just pull Naruto away with me. I was the closest to him.'

Kakashi patted her on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it Sakura. I promise that I'll find him and bring him back safely."

With that said Kakashi teleported away and left Sakura all alone. He went to the memorial KIA stone where he needed to do a lot of thinking and talking to his deceased loved ones.

* * *

><p>Naruto looked in amazement at the bedroom he'd be staying in. It was bigger than his own room back in his time. Heck, this whole apartment was way bigger than his!<p>

"Are you really sure it's ok that I can stay with you sensei?" Naruto really wanted to be sure that Minato didn't mind. He didn't want to be a burden on the guy at all, he was grateful enough as it was.

"Of course, unless you want to get your own place though it might take you awhile to earn the money for it." Minato moved some boxes out into the hall. Even though he had wanted Kushina to come live with him he still used this room as a spare room. He never bothered to move stuff out of it cause he'd expected she'd sleep in the same room as him. He had to find some way to convince her to.

"Thanks again Minato-sensei!" Naruto went to explore the rest of the apartment. The place was pretty clean and tidy. Either Minato was a neat freak or his girlfriend came by to fix up the place. Unknowing to him, it was actually Kushina who messed up the place when she was over and Minato who cleaned up after her.

As he entered the kitchen area he heard a knock at the door. He peeked around the corner and saw Minato open the door and greet someone.

"Kushina! I thought you would be out on a mission." Since he hadn't seen her at all in the village he had assumed that she would be.

"I was, I just got back from it and when I heard that you were back as well I decided to drop by with some ramen!" Kushina held up the package of ramen and gave Minato a big happy grin.

"Ramen…Kushina that's all you ever bring over." Don't get him wrong he loved ramen too but wasn't obsessed with it like she was.

"It's the best food ever that's why-oh. Who's that?" Kushina noticed a young boy peeking around the corner from the kitchen.

When Naruto saw that he had been noticed he stood frozen. What should he say? When he first laid eyes on her he couldn't help but think how pretty she was with her long red hair and violet-blue eyes. Minato glanced back at him and gestured him to come closer. After hesitating a few seconds he did.

"Kushina this is Naruto. He just joined Konoha as a genin and is now apart of my team."

"Naruto?" Kushina blinked and looked down at the blonde boy. "What a cute name!" Kushina knelt down and gave Naruto a fierce hug. His face turned beet red. There it was again, someone calling his name cute. He awkwardly hugged back.

"Where did you come from Naruto? Oh! Do you like ramen? If not you really have to try some it's the best thing ever, dattebane! Wow look at your eyes they're such a bright blue-"

Kushina rambled off and Naruto just stood there feeling a bit overwhelmed. He didn't know what to say or what to do. All he did know was that he wondered if he was sick, he felt way too hot right then.

Minato watched Kushina hammer the poor boy with questions and praise. He almost felt bad cause he could see that Naruto was completely flushed and didn't know what to do. The kid probably wasn't used to such attention all directed at him. Taking pity upon him he decided to interject.

"Kushina, you're smothering the poor boy."

"Eh?" Kushina finally let go of Naruto realizing she had been hugging him a bit too tightly.

"Ah, uh sorry about that. I guess I got a bit carried away." Kushina smiled sheepishly and stood up.

Naruto opened his mouth to say something but couldn't. He had never felt so shy around anyone before. Sure he was a little bit shy around his crush Sakura but he always covered that up by talking a lot.

"I think you stunned him speechless. And look at the size of that blush on his face." Minato couldn't help but tease the boy which seemed to snap Naruto out of it.

"I'm not blushing! You need some contacts or something old man!"

"I'm no where near old, I'm 25, but I can see that you're immature since you've got a hot temper." It was very hard to get Minato to lose his cool and he always used that to his advantage when he ruffled other people up.

"I'm not immature at all! Becoming a genin is also a step towards adulthood!"

"Which you're far from."

Both of them suddenly stopped when they heard a stifled giggle. It was Kushina and she finally burst out laughing when they looked at her.

"Wow, you two look so much like each other that it almost looked liked Minato was bickering with a chibi version of himself."

Minato and Naruto glanced at each other than looked away. That was also the second person who said that he looked like the Yondaime. Personally he really didn't think so, why would anyone think that someone like him would look even remotely similar to a great shinobi like Minato.

"Do I r-really look like h-him?" Naruto hadn't meant to stutter or to sound so timid. There was just something about the woman that made him that way.

Kushina smiled warmly down at him. He was adorable. "Hai, it's really strange but you share some of the same features. Are you embarrassed that you look a little like your new sensei?"

"N-No I mean I, well.."

Minato picked up the ramen Kushina set down on the floor and walked past them towards the kitchen.

"Come on chibi, Kushina, we should eat before the ramen gets cold."

Naruto growled under his breath but followed him and Kushina into the kitchen. They all sat down at the table and Kushina pulled out five bowls of ramen. Originally it was suppose to be two for Minato and three for her but she gave Naruto most of her share.

"So Naruto you never told me where you're from."

Naruto paused for a second when he was about to inhale his food then answered. "I'm from the Hidden Grass Village." He continued on to tell her the story he had told the Hokage and Minato. Kushina listened attentively and at the end gave him a sorrowful look.

"Don't you miss your old village?"

"No, not really." Naruto had come to terms with himself when Minato had asked him the same question earlier. He was happy to be in this time now and didn't want to go back.

"You know, you kind of remind me of myself." Kushina gazed down into her bowl of ramen as some memories washed over her.

"I'm not originally from Konoha either you know. I was born in Uzushiogakure in Whirl Pool Country."

Naruto's eyes widened. He had never heard of that village before and was kind of amazed and curious about it. That country was never mentioned in Iruka-sensei's geography lessons before. Then again, he had skipped a lot of his classes during his academy days.

"If you're from another village then why are you here?"

Kushina smiled sadly. "Because the village along with the country is no more. Konoha and my village had very close ties too so I came to live here when I was very young."

"What happened to Uzushiogakure and Whirl Pool country?" Naruto was kind of shocked that the place Kushina was born in was gone.

"It was destroyed." She didn't elaborate any further on it.

"Oh…I'm sorry-"

"Don't apologize. Things happen for a reason and if I hadn't come to Konoha, then I would of never met Minato." Kushina turned to Minato and gave him a loving smile which he returned.

Naruto watched as the two shared a long caring look. It was sweet but also a bit creepy.

'Why do adults always have to stare at each other like that anyway.' Even he didn't stare at Sakura that intently. However, he was just a kid, his silly infatuation with Sakura couldn't compare to true love.

After a few minutes Minato looked away and grunted and Kushina looked down, letting her hair cascade around her face and shoulders to hide a small blush.

"Well it's getting late, Naruto you should head off onto bed. We'll be getting up early tomorrow and it'll be your first day of training with the team. Minato got up and started to collect the dishes and put them into the sink.

"Let me help you Minato." Kushina got up as well and walked over towards him.

Naruto slid out of his chair and with a small goodnight directed at the two love birds he went off to bed. When he was all snuggled in his blankets and about to fall asleep he heard a small crash and dishes breaking from the kitchen and Kushina shouting out apologies. He smiled and went to sleep.

The next day didn't go off on a good start. Naruto woke up to find himself on the floor and entangled within his blankets. He sat up and looked around the room, vaguely remembering the previous days events.

'So it really wasn't a dream after all.' He smiled to himself but it quickly vanished. He had slept in his clothes from yesterday and didn't have any fresh clothes to put on. Normally he didn't care, he was a boy and would often re-wear clothes a few times before he'd wash them. But the ones he was currently wearing had a slight odor coming off of it.

"Naruto are you up?" Minato opened the door and looked down to see his newest student tangled up in his blankets on the floor. Repressing an amused grin he asked the first thought that came to mind.

"What are you doing?"

Naruto half glared up at his sensei and looked away pouting. He knew the older man was getting some enjoyment out of his predicament.

"Nothing. I woke up in this position." Naruto got up and unwrapped the blanket from around him before he tripped over it.

"By the way sensei, do you have anything that I could wear for today until I can get some clothes?"

Minato then took in his student's appearance. Rumpled clothing that looked slightly dirty with some rips and tears and blood on it. Despite all that the boy's outfit was incredibly bright because of all that orange. It was an eyesore really and he briefly noted that in that attire he could easily get spotted by enemy nin while out on missions. He'd have to change the boy's sense of style or something.

"Well I don't have anything in your size…" What did the kid wear, a size zero or something? "But don't worry. I can use a seal on some of my clothes to shrink so it'll fit you."

Minato walked into his bedroom and Naruto followed after him. He took out a pair of common dark blue ninja pants and a mesh shirt along with a black t-shirt. Naruto made a slight disgusted face.

"Don't you have anything in orange? All those dark colors are dreary looking."

"No, I don't and you shouldn't wear such…bright colors Naruto. Wearing all that orange will allow your enemies to easily spot you."

"Wha-I love orange! It's a great color! Dattebayo!"

"Yes but you'd be doing your enemies a favor on the battlefield and it'll make it harder for you to conceal yourself."

"I've done fine wearing this color so far so I don't see the problem." Naruto muttered to himself. Minato could see he was going to be stubborn and not be persuaded out of abandoning the color. He sighed.

"Well, maybe if you wore it in less volumes it'd be ok. But for now this is all I have for you." Minato drew a small circle on the floor and continued putting in some complicated designs into it. When he was done he laid the clothes out over it and stood up. He performed a few hands signs and in a puff of smoke the clothes shrunk to Naruto's size.

Naruto looked on in awe. Whatever his sensei did was cool and he wanted to learn it too.

"Minato-sensei what did you just do!"

"I used a sealing technique to shrink it temporarily. It'll go back to it's normal size in a couple days so that should give us enough time to get you some of your own clothes."

"Could you teach me that too?"

"You want to learn fuuinjutsu? It's some pretty complicated stuff."

"Come on, please sensei? I'll work really hard on it! Teach it to me!"

Minato chuckled and ruffled the boys hair. "Maybe when you're older and a more experienced ninja. Fuuinjutsu takes a lot of time and patience to learn."

Naruto scowled as Minato left the room for Naruto to get changed. He went to put them on and thought of ways he could probably force or blackmail Minato into teaching him fuuinjutsu. Naruto loved to learn new things and nothing would stop him from learning it!

When he was ready they both left and headed towards the training grounds. Along the way Minato spoke up.

"Oh Naruto, I know you've just joined the team and all but you know that Kakashi is going to become a jonin right?" Naruto nodded so Minato continued.

"Well, just to be formal, you might want to get Kakashi a small gift, to congratulate him."

Naruto's face scrunched up till his eyes were only slits and frowned.

"Why should I? I don't even think he likes me." And he wasn't really surprised with this fact either. Sure Kakashi from his time was a lot nicer but he ignored him for the most part. Kaka-sensei's younger counter-part was a lot like Sasuke-teme. So much it was no wonder he favored Sasuke over him. Naruto was outwardly happy, boisterous, and a trouble-maker, but if Kakashi ever took the time to delve deeper into Naruto's behavior then he'd probably see that he was a lot different underneath.

Sasuke was the exact opposite of Naruto and easier to teach. He was a genius and a prodigy. Naruto may not catch on to his sensei's lessons as fast but he was still capable of learning it! And this was probably why Kakashi didn't bother with him much, because Sasuke was easy. Sasuke was smarter and kept himself distant from others. Kakashi wouldn't have to make any emotional attachments to him whereas Naruto would crave it.

It was almost the same with Sakura. She graduated at the top of their class in the academy and only needed something explained to her once while Naruto might need it repeated a couple times. Sakura also didn't really require to have a close relationship with Kaka-sensei either. She had a family and other friends who took up that part for her. So in all, Naruto didn't want to get that jerk anything because he'd probably just turn it down anyway and shun him.

Minato heaved a sigh. So Naruto noticed the cold shoulder he was given. He had hoped that maybe Naruto would shrug it off and think nothing of it but that wasn't the case now. He shouldn't be surprised really. Since the boy was mistreated in his last village then he would definitely notice the signs of animosity directed towards him.

"Well just give it some thought. It takes awhile for Kakashi to warm up to new people." If he does give Kakashi a gift then maybe that anti-social brat will at least give him a little regard. A sensei could only hope.

When they reached the training grounds on time Minato wasn't surprised at all to see Obito not present. Oh well.

"Good morning Rin. Kakashi."

Kakashi and Rin both greeted their sensei but Kakashi ignored Naruto when Rin gave him a warm hello. Naruto gave Rin a cheery good morning and then turned to Kakashi to at least say hi but he got nothing out of the soon-to-be-jonin except a 'hn'. What was with socially inept people and their 'hns'? Last time he checked that wasn't a real word or form of response! Naruto let it go and waited for Minato's instructions, but they never came. Instead they all just stood there waiting for Obito. As the time went by Naruto got a little bit more and more vexed.

'I can't believe I'm always stuck with a team that has that one member that's always late!'

After about an hour and a half went by they heard rapid footsteps approaching them. When Naruto looked up he saw Obito running towards them with a big grin on his face. Just like with Kakashi from his time Naruto shouted.

"Hey! You're late!"

Obito suddenly came to a halt before them, a little surprised at Naruto's outburst. In fact, the rest of team Minato were a little bit taken aback. However Obito still continued with his usual response.

"Sorry I'm late guys but a little old lady needed some help bringing her groceries home so I decided to help her!"

"Obito you know the rules. A ninja should never be late to anything no matter what. Your bad conduct is unbecoming of you as a Konoha shinobi. And lying about your tardiness is even worse."

Naruto was a bit shocked to hear Kakashi say that. He was so stern and hard set on rules unlike his future self. Kaka-sensei may have a bit strict occasionally but he always had an aloof nature about him. He wondered what could of changed him to actually act more like Obito in the future.

"I wasn't lying at all!" Obito despised Kakashi and all of his stupid rules. He did follow them but sometimes rules were meant to be broken. Nevertheless, Kakashi still scoffed at Obito and was about to retort when Minato butted in.

"Now, now Kakashi. You shouldn't accuse Obito of lying, you don't have any proof that he was."

"Hah! See, Minato-sensei-"

"And Obito you should at least try to get here on time regardless the excuse. Kakashi does have a point in shinobi conduct."

Obito visibly deflated. He knew that Minato never took sides. He was very neutral when it came to their senseless bickering but always put an end to it before it got out of hand. Obito turned his head away from the bane of his existence and then saw Naruto. He grinned, and walked over to him and gave him a happy good morning. Naruto responded back but was still a bit miffed at him. He hated waiting around, he'd already done enough of that to last him a lifetime.

"Okay team, today we're just going to do a little bit of sparring. Since Naruto is new we all need to adjust our teamwork and understand each others strengths and weaknesses."

Minato looked over Rin, Obito, and Kakashi. He knew all of their capabilities and was deciding who to pair off first with Naruto.

"Rin, how about you start it off first. You're both only allowed to use taijutsu, nothing else."

Naruto and Rin walked out into the field and stood a few feet away facing each other. When Minato gave them the signal to start they both lunged towards each other. It had lasted for about ten minutes but finally Naruto won the match in the end only because he had much more stamina.

'The boy certainly can take a few hits but doesn't have much grace at all. He actually charges in blindly.' Minato pondered over this while his students walked back towards him. With the kind of endurance Naruto processed he would surely turn out to be a formidable ninja with the proper training.

"Okay, Obito you're up next. Same rules apply, only taijutsu. Nothing else."

The two genin walked back out into the field and faced each other. Obito was grinning, excited to get a chance to spar with Naruto and see the blonde's skills. He was really tired of sparring against Kakashi, mainly because he usually lost, but that was besides the point.

After Minato gestured them to start they both went on the attack. Obito was fast and dodged most of Naruto's punches, and went in to do some damage to him. However, when Obito did manage to land a hit on Naruto he noticed that it hardly phased the small blonde. He found that kind of weird and tried to put more power into his attacks but nothing really seemed to effect him.

When Naruto finally did catch Obito off guard and land a hard punch on him, Obito went flying backwards and hit the ground harshly. That hit practically knocked the air out of him! Before Naruto could score another hit on him Obito leaped backwards and went on defense, trying to find a weakness in Naruto to defeat him. Not finding anything Obito continued his assault, trying to at least tire Naruto out but the blonde just kept on coming. Neither of them showed any signs of giving up.

They continued on for awhile; nearly twenty minutes until Minato finally called the match and ended it with a tie. Obito leaned over himself and tried to catch his breathe, he was completely worn out. If their spar had continued there was no doubt he would of lost only because he couldn't keep up with Naruto.

"Nice job guys, I didn't think your match would ever end. Alright, Kakashi, it's your turn."

Obito walked over to his sensei and then slumped to the ground. He felt exhausted, he never felt this kind of over exertion with Kakashi cause their spars never lasted that long.

Kakashi slowly walked out onto the field to face Naruto. When he stood before him he didn't even take up a fighting stance. Naruto quirked an eyebrow at him in confusion. Why wasn't he taking the formal fighting stance at the start of a friendly match?

"Aren't you going to at least put up a defensive stance?"

Kakashi just stared at him with cold eyes until he finally answered. "This won't be much of a fight so I'm not going to bother."

Naruto felt his blood boil. There wasn't anything that infuriated him more than being underestimated and looked down upon. Until now, he had only considered Sasuke as a rival, now Kakashi was on his list. He would show him what he was made of and get the respect he deserved!

Minato immediately felt the tension in the air when Kakashi and Naruto stood before each other. He could already tell that the match probably wouldn't end too well. After hesitating for a second Minato finally told them to start.

Naruto stood stock still as he sized up his opponent. Kakashi continued to stand there, probably waiting for Naruto to make the first move. Since Kakashi was already on a jonin level it wouldn't be smart to charge in recklessly like he was used to doing. Although the only reason he did do that was mainly because he knew it caught people off guard and he'd use that to his advantage, but instinctively he knew that wouldn't work on Kakashi. Naruto would have to rely mostly on tricks and maybe even some cheap moves, but that would be a last resort. He didn't like using cheap shots to win a match.

"What's the matter? Too scared to charge at me with any attacks?" Kakashi was trying to taunt Naruto and he knew it, but he wasn't going to let that get to him. He could be level headed when he wanted to be. He wasn't going to fall for some stupid gibes that would ultimately cause him to make careless mistakes and land himself into a trap.

"Not going to make the first move then huh? Fine."

Before Naruto could blink Kakashi was gone. His eyes widened and tried to see which way he went and to take in his surroundings fully so as not to get caught off guard. Suddenly Naruto faintly felt Kakashi's chakra behind him in his blind spot and lifted up his arm to block the attack aimed for his head. He successfully blocked it but didn't see the kick that connected into his back.

Naruto went flying forwards but before he hit the ground he thrust his hands out to cushion his fall and pushed himself back up onto his feet then bounced backwards a few meters. Kakashi had disappeared again. He was using his agility to get into Naruto's blind spot to attack instead of facing him head on. Starting to get frustrated Naruto tried to calm himself down. Letting his angry rule over his actions now would definitely result in his utter defeat, and if he lost he'd at least make an impression upon Kakashi first.

Naruto didn't have much control on his chakra since he had such vast amounts of it but he at least knew how to use it to help him detect enemies. With so much chakra to his disposal he could release it around him to cover a certain area and when another ninja crossed into it's proximity he would know before they'd even land a hit on him. The only downside to this was that once an enemy crossed into it they would feel his chakra bubble and then probably switch to long ranged attacks from some hiding point. But since this was only a taijutsu match, Naruto just might have the advantage.

Without any warning Kakashi appeared again but this time Naruto was ready. The second Kakashi entered Naruto's field of chakra he faltered. Naruto used Kakashi's sudden surprise and threw some shurikan at him, not aiming for any vital points but just enough to distract him by dodging.

After Kakashi avoided the shurikan Naruto ducked down and dashed towards Kakashi and delivered a sharp upper kick to his jaw. Naruto smirked when Kakahsi went soaring up into the air, pleased that his plan had worked. Just as Naruto was about to jump up and send Kakashi crashing down with another kick he gasped. Kakashi had already recovered from the blow in midair and flipped backwards and landed on the ground. He then sprinted forward and tried to knock Naruto off balance.

Naruto lurched forward to meet him head on, hoping to over power Kakashi with his strength. What he hadn't expected was for him to vanish just as they were about to collide into each other. Surprised, Naruto stumbled over his own feet but caught himself before he fell. When he regained his balance he froze when the cold steel of a kunai pressed into his neck.

Without him even seeing it Kakashi had maneuvered around Naruto till he was behind him and caught him in a death hold that would of surely killed him in an instant if they had ever met on the battlefield.

"Kakashi wins. Alright that was pretty good you guys." Minato had been a bit stunned while he watched their fight. He certainly noticed that little chakra field that Naruto had put up and he was a bit impressed. Even though the match had only lasted for about five minutes he had to say that Naruto was showing a lot of potential.

Kakashi pulled the kunai away from Naruto's neck and stepped away. He was really shocked when he realized that he had stepped into that mass of chakra, and at how well the blonde was able to take his opponents by surprise. But he'd never admit that out loud. He turned to walk away when Naruto spoke to him.

"Ah good match, but I'll be sure to beat you next time! Dattebayo!"

Kakashi narrowed his eyes at him. "You'll never beat me, you're too slow. And I'd never allow an outsider to get the best of me." He didn't trust Naruto, no matter how good natured he seemed to be, and if the genin did something that would threaten the village, he wouldn't hesitate to kill him.

Naruto stood there while Kakashi turned his back on him. He bent his head down so his bangs would cover his angered filled eyes. His fists clenched and he bit his lower lip with one of his abnormally long canines. He'd never show it or admit it, but Kakashi words hurt him. To be called an outsider even when he truly was apart of the same village cut deeply into him. Even though Kakashi had called him that for different reasons, he still couldn't help but feel worse about himself upon remembering the villagers calling him an outsider when he was younger.

When he tasted the blood on his lips he breathed out through his nose to calm himself down. He needed to compose himself and put up his mask, he didn't want them to see how mentally messed up he really was. He walked back over to Minato and the rest of his team and put on a false smile.

Minato had heard what Kakahsi had said to Naruto and truthfully he was a bit angry but kept it to himself. He knew why Kakashi was so closed off to other people but he didn't have to go that far. With a slight frown he turned to the rest of his students.

"Well that'll be it for today. We'll meet up again tomorrow same time for some more training exercises. So don't be late." That last statement was directed towards Obito who just gave his sensei a sheepish grin.

Everyone started to go off in different directions to do who knows what. Naruto was going to ask Obito if he wanted to hang out but he no longer felt up to it. He was still feeling a bit dejected after Kakashi's remark and wanted some time to himself. He didn't sense Minato coming up behind him until he felt the man pat his head affectionately.

"Naruto I have some business to take care of so you can explore around the village if you want to. Here's a spare key to the apartment." Minato handed Naruto the key before heading off and telling Naruto to enjoy himself.

Naruto clutched the key in his hand as he headed off into the core of the village. He already knew everything to know about Konoha and tried to think of what to do for awhile. After about an hour of walking around aimlessly he became bored. And when Naruto was bored and had nothing to do, he would start to think. And thinking was something Naruto tried to avoid.

It was why Naruto was usually so impulsive. Thinking always led to the darker recesses of his mind and he tried not to wander off there. If he just did things without thinking then he wouldn't be trapped within his own self-loathing thoughts. But with nothing to do Naruto thought back on his fight with Kakashi, his words just kept replaying in his head. Outsider. To everyone here, he wasn't exactly considered apart of this village. It was so ironic that even in a different time line, the people would still think the same. What did he ever do for some deity out there to make him live through such pain and misery? It wasn't fair.

Naruto heaved a sigh. So Kakashi hated his guts. He shouldn't be bothered by this fact but somehow it still hurt to know that the guy didn't accept him. At least Kaka-sensei had never shown any resentment towards him and since he never did Naruto liked to think that deep down his old sensei did care for him. Even if a little.

Naruto's eyes suddenly set into a hard determined look. He was going to make Kakashi accept him one way or another. He would make the other admit that he was now a Konoha shinobi, a worthy opponent, and a trusting comrade.

As Naruto made this decision he remembered earlier Minato had mentioned that Naruto should get Kakashi a gift. Now that he thought about it he really didn't know what to get him at all. What kind of gift would be suitable for a guy like him? While pondering this Naruto looked all around at the different shops. He was at a complete lost as what to get him and he even realized that he had no money on him either. Hopefully they'd be doing some missions soon so he'd earn some money.

Naruto decided to go to back to the apartment, not knowing what to do with himself. As he walked in that direction something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. He stopped outside of a store and after staring at it for a few seconds Naruto's face lit up into a toothy smile. He knew exactly what to get Kakashi.

TBC…

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Yay! Chapter 3 is done! To be honest, this chapter would of came out a day early if I wasn't such a coward. ****-.- The other night while I was typing it I caught something dangling out of the corner of my eye and when I turned to look I saw a freaking spider a few inches away from my face. I jumped out of my seat and screamed then went running to my mother blubbering. She killed it but even then I was too afraid that another would come down on its web and maybe land somewhere on me. I don't care if any of you laugh at me! I have a big fear of spiders. I've woken up with them on my face so I think I'm entitled to be terrified of them, even if they are as small as the nail on my pinky. *shudders* **

**On another note, I hate the color orange. Naruto does look good in it but sometimes it still looks hideous. I was going to make Naruto hate the color too and the reason he only wore it was because it was so cheap, but something changed my mind. While I was reading character profiles on Narutopedia I read this one small paragrapgh that made me swoon. Everyone knows that Minato is a blonde and that Naruto gets his looks from him and Kushina is a red head. But you know how Minato and Kushina loved each other, well yellow (Minato's hair color) and red (Kushina's hair color) can make orange while mixed together? And that's all Naruto ever wears? I freaking awwwwww'd over that and decided to let Naruto keep his color. lol So cute. **

**Okay hope you all enjoyed chapter 3! I have to write a thesis paper soon *cries* and finals are coming up *wails* but it's the weekend so I'll start on chapter 4 then and get it out to you guys ASAP! **

**Thank you again and please leave a review! ^-^ **


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you so much everyone! I'm so happy that **_**Come on Closer**_** has now gotten almost two thousand hits! ^^ I was kind of under the impression that KakaNaru fanfics weren't that popular. Guess I was wrong *-* Anyway enjoy chapter 4!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto but I do own a Naruto plushie X3 It's so cute. **

~Come on Closer~

Kakashi and the anbu had scouted the entire area and still couldn't find any leads to Naruto's disappearance. There wasn't even anything left in the spot where he had vanished. All they found were the tracks of the shinobi that had took off after the failed attack.

"We'll take it from here Kakashi-san. Report back to the Hokage and inform him that we will be pursuing the enemy."

Kakashi nodded towards Hawk, the leader of the anbu squad. Then the anbu dispersed and disappeared. Kakashi took off in the opposite direction back towards the village. Feelings of regret and hopelessness started to rear its ugly head again. He felt like he had failed as a sensei. Even worse, he felt like he had failed _his_ former sensei.

Ever since Minato died protecting the village, he had closed his heart away from people for good. He did have acquaintances but that was all he ever kept them as, nothing more. Obito's death had the biggest impact on his life and it was probably one of his biggest regrets. Although over time, he slowly started to heal from it because he still had Rin and Minato by his side. After Rin disappeared and was later pronounced dead all he had left was Minato to lean on.

He was his idol, the strongest shinobi in the entire village and probably even one of the strongest across the ninja nations. And then there was Kushina, he wasn't that close to her but she always had this way about her that helped him to cope with Obito's and Rin's death. During those times he wanted nothing to do with anyone, but she always made a point of being there for him. He had, unwilling, accepted her as like an older sister. When she became pregnant with Minato's child he was always at her beck and call, more than happy to assist her and rather excited over their unborn baby.

It was one of the few times he had been truly happy in a long time and fate just had to shatter it all with the Kyuubi's attack. Not only did he have to lose his beloved sensei to that demon, but he lost his very cherished sister-like-figure Kushina. That day was when the rest of his most precious people were taken away from him and he felt utterly alone, the same as when his father commited suicide. That had been the final straw and he locked his heart and emotions away from everyone. He didn't want to go through that kind of pain ever again.

While he was drowning in his anguish he had completely forgotten about Minato's and Kushina's baby. He had assumed that he too had been killed during the attack. When the Sandaime approached him with the newborn he had overflowed with immense joy that something of his former sensei's and sister's had survived, that he still had a piece of them left. However, it shocked him to his core when he learned that the baby, Naruto, was now the nine tails container. The Sandaime had asked Kakashi if he would adopt Naruto since he was Minato's former student and at the moment, the best candidate to care for infant.

Till this day Kakashi regrets his foolish actions. He refused the 3rd Hokage to take Naruto and raise him. He didn't want that _demon_ anywhere near him. It hurt to even look at him because he resembled his deceased sensei so much and yet carried the monster that had killed him. And how ironic was it that the monster that destroyed their village and killed so many people had to look like their hero, their savior. It was a complete mockery. It practically sullied the Yondaime's legend!

Back then Kakashi was just as biased as the rest of the villagers and because of his hate for the child, he threw himself into countless S-rank missions, anything that would keep him out of the village for an extended period of time and away from _him_. It wasn't till years later that Kakashi's image of the boy began to break.

Naruto was probably just around the age of five when Kakashi saw him again. He was on his way to see the Hokage when he saw the boy being harassed by the villagers. Kakashi didn't care, he was going to ignore the situation until he heard the boy shout, claiming that he was going to become the Hokage some day and that everyone would have to respect him then. He then ran away in tears.

Kakashi had seen so much of Kushina shining through the boy and even saw the determination in his eyes, just like Kushina's when she became passionate about something or other. Not only that, but Naruto was truly looking more and more like his father. For the first time in years, he felt the guilt clench in his heart and stomach. And that's all he ever felt for years to come as he watched the boy grow.

He couldn't believe how stupid he was to even think that Naruto was the demon itself. He was still a human being too and his mentor's child no less. The shame of his ignorance had weighed down on him and he wanted nothing more than to start his life over. His entire life was just filled with mistakes that he had made anyway, one right after the other. And despite his change of heart, he couldn't bring himself to face Naruto or to take on his rightful responsibilities. He was afraid because if he did suddenly move into Naruto's life, the boy would one day ask why he wasn't there right from the beginning for him once he discovered that his father was Kakashi's teacher. He never wanted to come to that point, so instead he just watched him from the sidelines, protecting him from the shadows so he'd never see him.

The second time the Sandaime approached him, it was to ask if he would take on a genin team and become a sensei. The 3rd Hokage had, on numerous occasions, asked him the same request before, and Kakashi had indeed tried; but all those genin that he had tested were imbeciles and weren't worth his time. All he wanted was to keep an eye out on Naruto. However, when he learned that Naruto was now a genin and that the Hokage had wanted him to be his jonin instructor he accepted, a bit reluctantly though.

He was nervous about becoming a sensei for Naruto's team, he didn't know how things would turn out. His main purpose as team seven's mentor was really to train the last Uchiha and to keep him from straying onto the wrong path, and to keep a watchful eye on the jinchuuriki. Although he accepted those terms from the Hokage and the council, he had different reasons entirely. It was his chance to watch over Naruto even closer and to some how repent for all the years he had ignored him. It was selfish of him but he took the offered chance anyway.

When team seven did their first introductions of each other on the roof, Kakashi had to really reel in his emotions and remain impassive when it was Naruto's turn. He spoke of his dream to become Hokage and how much he loved ramen and what not. He was so much like Kushina it wasn't even funny. And he continued to look more like Minato, though, as he was getting older he was beginning to show some small signs of carrying some of Kushina's features.

He had truly wanted to help Naruto with everything and anything but found that he couldn't. He had a team, not just Naruto and it'd be strange and unfair of him if he only set his attention on his youngest student. Not only that, it was hard to be around him. Every day the boy continued to do stuff that reminded him of Kushina and Minato, and remembering them brought along not only good memories, but a lot of painful ones too. So, unconsciously, he distanced himself from Naruto. He hadn't even realized this error until Naruto disappeared. He was a horrible sensei, nothing compared to what Minato was to him and his old team.

After swimming through his depressing thoughts, Kakashi didn't notice that he had already reached the village. It was nearly sundown and despite the calming, ethereal scene of the sun setting, he looked away. Nature's unique beauty was contrasting with his inner feelings at that very moment. He thought about visiting the KIA memorial stone after seeing the Hokage but quickly abandoned the idea. He didn't want to face Minato and Kushina or his old teammates, even if they weren't physically there. He just wanted to go home and have a dreamless sleep.

* * *

><p>It had been about a week since the mission's accident that landed Naruto in the past, and it was probably the best week of his life. Well, it would have been the best week ever in his young life if it weren't for a certain grey-haired shinobi. Kakashi never failed to leave Naruto with his teeth grinding together.<p>

Kakashi continued his cold attitude towards the blonde and would constantly point out the genin's flaws during their matches. It frustrated him, no matter how hard he tried to prove himself to that jerk he would always look down on him. He just wouldn't accept him as an equal at all. But other than that headache, Naruto was having the time of his life.

He had become good friends with Obito and he learned a lot about him and his clan. He felt bad for him too because he wasn't what everyone thought of as a true Uchiha. Obito had mentioned that he considered himself the "black sheep" of the Uchiha clan. Naruto really felt for him, he knew how it felt to be seen as an outcast. Other than that he and Obito trained together a lot, both wanting to become stronger. Rin occasionally joined them as well and would heal any small injuries they obtained when sparring against each other.

Sometimes Minato found them training together and would always offer help and advice. Though of course, once Obito and Naruto got back into doing things by themselves Minato would transport himself away quickly, most likely looking for a certain red haired kunoichi. During the week Naruto had definitely seen an improvement on his taijutsu skills. He had gotten a little bit more agile and a bit stronger.

When they weren't training together as a team, or training by themselves, they had done a few D-rank missions, just to help build their teamwork. Kakashi was never present for those of course, he was off training on his own. Naruto had to admit that, even if he hated D-rank missions with a passion, he had a lot of fun doing them with Obito, Rin, and Minato. Everyday he spent with them, he forgot more and more about his old team.

One of Naruto's favorite things ever had to be when Kushina came over to visit, which was every night if she wasn't on watch duty. He didn't see her much during the day, he didn't know where the woman went and what she did but he knew that when Minato wasn't present, he was most likely with her or on some kind of business.

Kushina was a fantastic cook too. She made ramen the first night she made dinner for them and Naruto thought that he was slurping noodles made from heaven. It was like ambrosia, he loved her cooking and so did Minato. She had made curry rice, sukiyaki, oyakodon, and barbeque. Naruto loved every single dish, but her ramen was the best. Ichiraku's ramen couldn't even compare to it. He had also never eaten such a variety of food before, he was used to just eating rice and cup ramen. Not exactly a healthy diet but that was beginning to change with Kushina around. She was a wiz in the kitchen and made the best food, but sucked at cleaning up afterwards. The clean-up was usually left to Minato and Naruto, but he didn't mind.

The three of them shared a lot of laughs and stories and Naruto practically basked in their company, he soaked it all up never wanting it to end. He quickly began to call Kushina "nee-chan" because he was starting to become really close to her. A few times he'd look in the refridgerator in the morning looking for something to eat for breakfast and would find a small plate of rice balls with a little note on it. The note always had an amusing message from Kushina to him, often saying the rice balls were for him so he'd have the energy to kick butt in training or missions that day. It put a genuine smile on his face at the beginning of everyday.

Currently, Naruto was walking through the streets of Konoha while munching on his rice balls. It was still early and the team didn't have to meet up for another hour still. When he woke up that morning Minato was already gone so he decided to get out early too. As he passed by people he kept his guard up. Even if the villagers of this time didn't know what he really was and treated him better he just couldn't get over his paranoia. Old habits die hard and his body was used to tensing up when someone came a bit too close to him.

'_I shouldn't be so afraid of them anymore. None of them have a real reason to hate me.'_

Naruto was so caught up in his musings that he didn't notice the presence that had been following him around all morning. Unbeknownst to him, Kakashi had been following Naruto all week. He was still trying to figure out the puzzle that surrounded around the blonde. So far, he'd discovered nothing except that Naruto had been training a lot with Obito and sometimes Rin and the blonde had gotten very close with Kushina. Even Minato shared a close bond with Naruto.

The former Grass nin seemed to be very at home in Konoha. A bit too at home. Sometimes Naruto would wander around the village aimlessly, and other times it seemed he knew exactly where he was going. It was a bit strange how the blonde didn't seem to get lost. Not only that, he had this way about him that pulled people closer to him, that made them trust him. He was beginning to have his doubts, maybe he had been wrong about Naruto. Either way, no matter how insistent the brat was about making him acknowledge him, he wouldn't. He still had some suspicions and as a true Konoha shinobi, he wouldn't be fooled if Naruto was playing with them.

With one last look towards Naruto, Kakashi took off in the opposite direction. Whenever he was done keeping a watchful eye on the genin he would go off to do some meditating or training before he had to meet up with the team.

An hour later Rin, Kakashi, Naruto, and Minato were all sitting together at their meeting place. All of them were waiting on their final team member to show up. After another hour dragged by Naruto flopped onto his back with an exasperated sigh. He was getting sick of this. As much as he liked Obito he really hated this weird habit of his.

"Can't one of us go out to look for him?"

Minato gave Naruto a sidelong glance and looked back up at the sky to determine the time by the sun's position.

"No, he should be showing up pretty soon."

Naruto grumbled under his breath. He had to say, Minato-sensei was a bit of a push over, or so he thought. He didn't even seem to enforce his own rules about being on time when it came to Obito. All he did do was stop him and Kakashi from going off on each other.

Naruto looked around and observed the rest of his teammates. Rin was sitting down under a tree trying to cool off in the shade from the day's heat. He really liked Rin, she was a very sweet girl and was very educated in her medical ninjutsu. For awhile now he had been trying to match her face up with any ninja he knew or remembered seeing from his time. In his time she would surely be a jonin or even anbu.

'_Or dead….a lot of ninja did die during the Third Shinobi World War.'_

Naruto really hoped that wasn't the case. The same with Obito. He was aware of the Uchiha massacre and the thought of his friend being killed by one of his own clan members made his heart clench. He didn't want any of his newfound precious people to die. He then looked over at Kakashi. He had mixed feelings when it came to him. He was constantly comparing this Kakashi and Kaka-sensei. They were both different yet still alike.

This Kakashi was so callous and strict and Kaka-sensei was more laid back and easy going. Both were still powerful and Kaka-sensei still held that firm attitude that told people he was not to be messed with. It was confusing, he wondered what could of happened to change this Kakashi into the future Kakashi. Better yet, he wondered what even made the jonin to act like this now.

Naruto had realized that he knew nothing about his sensei from his time and even less now in the past. Kakashi was a mystery and despite the guy's constant malice towards him, he still wanted to know everything about him. Everyone had a reason to act why they did. Sasuke was a great example. Although he didn't know what he was like in his childhood, he knew that the slaughter of his entire family forever changed him into an obsessed avenger. So what happened in Kakashi's past when he was younger and what happened afterwards before his generation came around?

For the last ten minutes or so Naruto hadn't realized he had been staring at Kakashi intently until the grey haired shinobi threw a kunai at him. The whizzing sound of the knife slicing through the air only a few centimeters away from his face and its sharp thwack into the ground behind him snapped him out of his daze.

"What the hell was that for you bastard!"

Kakashi's eyes narrowed dangerously at Naruto and the sound of his deep threatening voice sent cold shivers down his spine.

"Don't ever stare at me like that."

Naruto's shoulders tensed up and he tried to cover up his sudden alarm with a glare. It didn't have the desired effect unfortunately.

"I wasn't staring at you! I was looking at everything else beyond you, asshole."

"I don't like liars."

Before Naruto could retort Minato cut in.

"Now don't get hostile on me. We are a team and teammates don't attack each other without warning like that unless it's during a match." Minato threw a disapproving look towards Kakashi. He wished they would get along.

Kakashi snorted and looked away. Naruto looked at the ground dejectedly and turned his body the other way so he wasn't facing Kakashi. No one uttered a word after the brief quarrel between the two of them, they just sat there silently, absorbed into their own thoughts. Not too soon after, Obito finally made his appearance.

"Hey sorry I'm late guys but I had to show some children which way it was to the academy and-"

Everything Obito was about to say died on his lips. He could pratically feel the tension in the air surrounding his teammates. The source of it though, he noticed were coming off his least favorite teammate and his little buddy. Catching the serious look from his sensei's face Obito kept a tight lip and sat near Naruto, wordlessly offering him comfort even though he didn't know what was wrong. Minato stood up before his team and they all gave him their undivided attention.

"Well, now that we're all here I can tell you about the mission we will be going on tomorrow." Minato pulled out four scrolls to give to each of his subordinates.

"Tomorrow's mission is classified as A-ranked. Due to the village's low military force we will have to substitute for most of the jonin teams."

Naruto opened up his scroll and found that it was the map of the surrounding regions of Konoha. He noticed that their mission required them to cross into Kusagakure and further in towards the Land of Earth. He swallowed nervously. Naruto didn't know much at all about the Grass village and hoped that they didn't ask him for any inside information or land marks. He'd be screwed if they did, and he could only hope that they didn't run into any Grass nin, he really didn't want Minato and his teammates to discover that he had lied. Especially Kakashi….he had a feeling the jonin wouldn't take the information lightly and would probably try to kill him if he found out.

Kakashi examined the map and mission details before he spoke up. "So this is a sabotage mission."

"Yes. I want you four to infiltrate the enemies rear territory and destroy the Kannabi Bridge that is being used to transport reinforcements and supplies." Minato rolled up his scroll and put it back into his hip pouch.

"What about you Minato-sensei?" Naruto noticed that Minato didn't include himself in this sabotage mission.

"I will be on the front lines creating a diversion for you guys. So while I'm there Kakashi will be your team leader."

Naruto blinked. He did not just hear Minato-sensei say that. "Ano…did you just say that…Kakashi will be commanding the team?"

"Hai, I did. So tomorrow I want all of you to follow any of Kakashi's orders. He will be your team captain."

Naruto knew his mouth was hanging open and when he glanced to his side at Obito, he noticed he was in a similar state of shock. Behind him he could just feel the smirk that Kakashi was bearing down on him. Only one word went through his mind at that moment.

'_Fuck.' _

"Alright, everyone get a good nights rest and be prepared for tomorrow. We'll meet at the gates of Konoha at nine in the morning. And Obito, do try to be on time. Dismissed."

Naruto stood up and as he did he made eye contact with Kakashi. His gaze was cold and calculating and it made him a shit load more nervous about their mission. He was used to Kaka-sensei calling the shots but, this Kakashi was probably going to be different on this mission. He was going to have to mentally prepare himself for the next day and organize his lies in his head to make sure he didn't slip up if they were confronted by any Grass shinobi.

Naruto trudged on towards Minato's apartment deep in thought. How the hell was he going to get through this mission? Not to mention they were in the middle of a war so this mission will be almost ten times as dangerous as his last A-ranked mission.

Naruto's shoulders slumped. When Minato had mentioned they would be doing an A-ranked mission he was excited. After doing mostly boring D-ranked missions he had been looking forward to this one. The second Minato had said Kakashi was to be their team leader….well that just destroyed Naruto's happy little world. And that was what Kakashi was to Naruto. A destroyer of worlds.

Or at least his world. He could probably count on Obito's world as well.

'_Maybe this isn't so bad. On this mission I can finally prove to Kakashi that I'm now loyal to Konoha and that I'm trustworthy! I'll show him. I will knock him for a loop, dattebayo!' _

Naruto smirked to himself gleefully, imagining various scenarios that ended with him being the savior of the day and Kakashi groveling at his feet saying how wrong he was about him. As Naruto was snickering to himself he didn't watch where he was going and ended up bumping into someone.

"Gomen! I wasn't looking where I was going."

"Ah Naruto-chan!"

Naruto scowled at the nickname but it was quickly replaced with happy smile. Only one person called him that.

"Kushina-neechan!"

Kushina beamed down at her favorite blonde genin then gave him a strangling hug.

"A-Ah neechan you're squishing me." Naruto struggled within her grasp but the red-head only tightened her grip. She always loved squeezing the daylights out of him. After cutting Naruto's air supply off for about a minute Kushina finally let go.

"So what are you up to? I thought you had a team meeting."

Naruto took a few deep breathes and glowered up at Kushina. While he did enjoy her hugs he didn't enjoy getting suffocated. When his breathing evened out a small smile tugged at his lips. Normally he didn't like to be in close contact with others unless during training. He would always shy away from such physical interaction, but with Kushina…..with his nee-chan it was different.

"We did but it ended not too long ago. Tomorrow we'll be leaving to do an A-ranked mission."

Kushina hummed and tilted her head up in a thoughtful expression. "I see. So you'll probably be gone for awhile huh? I should make something extra special for dinner tonight then!"

Kushina rummaged around in the bags she had been carrying and started to walk with Naruto to Minato's apartment.

"So, what do you think I should make?"

Naruto's response was immediate. "Ramen!"

Kushina clenched her hand up and grinned ferociously. "Yosh! We shall have ramen tonight, dattebane!"

Naruto threw a fist into the air and cheered. "Alright! Ramen! You're ramen is the best, dattebayo!"

Kushina blushed slightly, it made her happy when people liked and complimented her cooking. Then something dawned on her.

"At the end of your sentence…you said dattebayo."

Naruto looked down, looking a bit bashful. "Yea I…I've always had that habit of saying that whenever I get excited or determined about something."

Suddenly Naruto whipped his head up and pointed a finger accusingly at Kushina. "Wait a minute you do the same thing! You say dattebane!"

Kushina's face turned slightly red from embarrassment. "I do, it's also something I can't control either when I become overly enthusiastic." She laughed nervously. "Looks like we both have that problem."

Naruto smiled sheepishly and they both grew silent as they walked on. As the silence dragged on Kushina finally broke it.

"Hey, Naruto?"

Naruto paused and looked up at his sister figure with a slight worried expression on his face. Kushina always tagged the -chan at the end of his name. As girly and insulting as it was, he knew it was just an endearing nickname she gave him.

"Yeah?"

Kushina stared at Naruto, a sorrowful look on her face. Over the past week the boy had become something as close to as a little brother and, as quickly and shocking to her as it was, she really cared about him. Even if he came from another village and most people were suspecting him of being a spy, she had a lot of faith in him. She didn't know why she had these sudden feelings of affection towards him but she always trusted what her heart told her. And right now her heart was aching a little at the thought of Naruto going on this dangerous mission.

"Promise me you'll come back safely."

Naruto looked stunned for a moment. She really cared that much about him that she wanted him to come back safely? A very warm feeling pooled inside of his chest. No one ever worried over his well-being like that before. It was nice.

"Don't worry. Nothing will stop me from coming back to this village. I will definitely come back safely. I promise." Naruto closed his eyes and smiled widely in a reassuring manner.

Kushina gave him a fond smile. Her heart eased up a little and they continued on, chatting a little along the way.

When they finally reached the apartment Kushina got to work on making dinner while Naruto went to get cleaned up. By the time everything was ready Minato had gotten home. They all sat and enjoyed their last meal together before Minato and Naruto left on their mission the next day. Before Kushina left to go home she gave Minato a tender kiss, wishing him luck and a safe return from the battle field. Then she turned to Naruto and kneeled down in front of him.

"Be careful out there. I want you to come back to Konoha alive, safe and sound you here me?"

Naruto nodded. He opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out as Kushina leaned towards him and kissed him on the cheek then hugged him tightly. After a few moments he hugged back.

As Kushina got up and said her goodnights Naruto couldn't help but wonder if what he was feeling right now was the love and care he would of gotten if he ever knew his parents.

* * *

><p>The next day Naruto and the rest of them were waiting at their meeting point for Obito to show up. He felt a bit jittery and nervous but all the same still excited over the mission. He glanced over at Kakashi, determined that he was going to prove himself to the jonin one way or another.<p>

After standing around for about twenty minutes Naruto picked up on Obito's chakra pulse approaching. He suddenly cleared through the trees and landed in front of them.

"Ah sorry I'm late guys. I had to help a little old lady find her cat this morning but it wasn't even lost at all! It was under her porch." Obito smiled but leaned over onto his knees trying to catch his breath.

Naruto had to give him some credit, Obito wasn't nearly as late as he usually was. He probably really hustled to get here on time today.

"How can you always have a new lie everyday for your tardiness?" Kakashi glared over at Obito.

"It's not a lie! And I tried really hard to be on time today!" Obito fiddled with his goggles on his head and tried to put some eye drops into his eyes.

"Now Kakashi, remembered what I said yesterday. You shouldn't accuse Obito of lying, you don't have any proof."

Kakashi scoffed. "You're too lenient sensei. Those who break the rules and regulations are regarded as scum."

"All you ever talk about are rules and regulations! The main thing you need is self-control." Obito put his goggles back in place over his eyes.

"Maa, maa. Let's not start this now. Today is a special day." Minato stood up and walked over to his students.

Obito just looked confused. "Why is today special?"

"Obito did you really forget? Today is the day that Kakashi has become an official jonin." Rin stood up from her spot and dusted her skirt off.

Minato rummaged in his pouch before pulling his gift out. "Congratulations Kakashi. Here, this is a custom made kunai knife. It's a bit heavier than a regular kunai but you'll get used to it."

Kakashi took Minato's gift and nodded appreciatively at him. Then Rin pulled something out of her pouch and shyly handed Kakashi his gift.

"This is a specialized med kit. This way you can perform any emergency first aid on yourself while out on the battle field."

"Thank you." Kakashi took Rin's gift gratefully. Then he turned to Obito and held his hand out.

Obito looked a bit taken a back then glared. "I don't have anything for you! It must of slipped my mind that today you were going to officially become a jonin."

Kakashi's hand fell to his side. "Oh well. Your gift wouldn't of been no real gain or anything worthwhile anyway."

As Obito seethed, Kakashi turned to Naruto. He didn't expect to receive anything from the blonde so he was surprised when Naruto actually did pull something out of his pouch. With a big grin on his face, Naruto presented his gift to Kakashi.

"I had a hard time thinking of a good gift for you but this one was perfect! No thanks or gratitude is needed."

Kakashi stared wide eyed at Naruto's so called _gift_. It was an orange book called 'Icha Icha Paradise'. If he wasn't mistaken, that book was a porno. He glared up at Naruto and gave him a _'are you serious'_ kind of look.

Naruto just stared back innocently. "What's wrong?"

Rin gasped softly when she saw the book while Obito's eyes practically bulged out of his sockets. Minato on the other hand was trying to refrain from gapping. He inwardly groaned.

'_What possessed the boy to get _that_?' _

"Is this some kind of sick joke?" Kakashi continued to glare daggers at the blonde. He was starting to think that he was a complete idiot.

"No, it's not. This is the very first volume of Icha Icha Paradise and it just came out a month ago. Besides, I thought you might be the reading type of person." Naruto was inwardly sweating. What was wrong? Kaka-sensei loved these books in his time so he didn't see the problem. Naruto's plan A, "get the perfect gift for Kakashi so he'd like him more" was failing.

Instead of taking the book Kakashi just glowered heatedly at Naruto. He didn't know what to think of this idiot anymore. He was unpredictable! Maybe he wasn't really a threat after all, he was too stupid to be much of one anyway.

Minato coughed to ease up the tension in the air. "Well, uh…it's the thought that counts Kakashi." Despite saying this he still sent Naruto an incredulous look.

Naruto just looked back in confusion when Kakahsi suddenly huffed and roughly grabbed the book from him. He was only taking it out of courtesy, he'd throw the trashy book away later.

Naruto scowled at the bastard's ungrateful attitude. _'What the hell's his problem? I thought it was a great gift! Stupid unappreciative asshole!' _

After a few moments of uneasy silence Minato had had enough. These brats were just impossible to deal with sometimes.

"Alright lets head out now. We need to cover a lot of ground before the sun sets." Minato then took the lead while the rest of them followed him. It was going to be a long mission.

TBC…

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Ah Naruto. Your cute, naïve nature is what makes you so irresistible. Though despite how pure you are, it's a wonder how you came up with the sexy jutsu lol! **

**Well, there's chapter 4 everyone! Next chapter will be the mission to Kusagakure! I re-watched Kakashi Gaiden to refresh my memory on it and I have to say, I freaking cried at the end. Just couldn't stop, kept balling my eyes out for like ten minutes. And I'm so weird cause when something sad makes me cry, I go on youtube to look up more sad videos on it! XD So I cried even more after watching a few sad videos with Kakashi, Obito, and Rin. **

**T-T Obito! His death touches me the most out of all the deaths in the Naruto series. Ugh, I'm going to have a dreadful time writing the next chapter. I'm a real sap when it comes to sad stuff. Q.Q **

**Ok, hope you all enjoyed chapter 4! Please leave a review! I get immense joy reading them ^-^ **


	5. Chapter 5

**Here it is, the dreaded chapter. I had a difficult time with this one x.x Sorry it took awhile to update too. Been really busy with projects and finals. And as a spoiler warning, 90% of this chapter is based off of Kakashi Gaiden and uses most of the scenes and material from it. Course, some things will be slightly changed with Naruto added in there. **

**But anyway, thanks so much for the support guys, you're so amazing. Just give yourselves a pat on the back or something lol You deserve it ;D Enjoy chapter 5! ^-^**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. This is kind of getting repetitive….oh wellz. Cookies for everyone! =D *throws cookies into the air* **

~Come on Closer~

Everyone was silent as they made their way into enemy territory. Naruto was tense and kept looking everywhere around him. He wasn't scared, not at all! He just felt that he should watch his back more carefully so as not to get caught off guard. Better safe than sorry is what they always say, right? With the forest being so dense it was easy for enemy nin to conceal themselves and to set traps.

Suddenly Kakashi stopped and held out his hand to motion the rest of them to halt as well. Naruto stiffened and didn't even realized that he was holding his breath.

'_Good work Kakashi.' _

Minato smiled, proud of Kakashi's sharp observation of the surrounding area. He kneeled down and placed his index finger on the ground, trying to find a trace of the enemies chakra.

'_Only one of them? No…' _

"Everyone be on your guard. There are twenty of them. Although, it could be a kage bunshin."

"Ah, then I'll attack them. Can you cover me sensei?"

Naruto looked at Kakashi like he was crazy. There was no way he could take on twenty shinobi at once head on!

"Don't be so hasty Kakashi, you should back me up." Minato had no doubts in Kakashi's skills as a ninja, but he wanted to ensure the safety of all of his students before he left them to continue the mission alone.

Kakashi ignored Minato and performed a few hand signs.

"Did you forget Minato-sensei? I'm captain of the team today. Besides, there's a new jutsu I've been working on that I want to test."

Naruto watched as Kakashi held his right hand with his left while a flickering bluish hue of chakra began to form. The air began to crackle and hiss as the chakra grew bigger and brighter in Kakashi's hand. Naruto immediately recognized it as the Chidori. He remembered when Kaka-sensei used that in the Land of Waves when he was trying to kill Zabuza but instead ended up killing Haku. Naruto couldn't help but stare in awe at how advanced Kakashi was at such a young age. He had to admit, Kakashi was pretty cool.

"Here I go." Kakashi was about to spring forward and attack when Minato stopped him with his hand. Kakashi glanced to his side at him.

"Even if there are twenty or more of them I can take them down in a flash. It'll be just like your nickname." Kakashi set his gaze forward, determined to show Minato that he was a worthy jounin of Konoha and more than capable of handling this mission. He was ready.

"And I'm the captain. The rule says that the team must obey their captain's orders."

Minato's face was blank as he hesitantly withdrew his hand. Kakashi was right, he had to obey his orders for now.

With a sudden burst of speed Kakashi took off and disappeared. He located the enemy easily and dashed towards him and attacked. The rock shinobi only showed a sign of surprise on his face before he went up in smoke.

'_Aa, kage bushin, sensei was right.' _Kakashi leapt up into the tree and spotted more clones scattered around the area. He quickly attacked and defeated them one by one with no difficulty.

While Kakashi was handling the clones around him, one of them crept up behind the other three unsuspecting genin. Naruto was still mesmerized by Kakashi's fluid attacks, one after the other his enemies fell and none of them managed to land a hit on him.

'_I can't believe…how strong Kaka-sensei was when he was so young, even when he didn't have the sharingan! He truly was a genius…..no wonder he chose to focus more on Sasuke….' _

Naruto's depressing thoughts were suddenly cut short when he felt the enemy appear right next to him and Obito. He nearly froze up with fear until he saw the rock shinobi about to attack Obito, who was also frozen in place. Before Naruto could even blink or try to rescue his friend, Minato stepped in and disposed of the enemy nin.

"Obito, Naruto! Don't let your guard down!"

'_Sakura! Naruto! Don't get caught off guard!'_

Naruto's breath hitched. It was just like before. That was the last thing that Kaka-sensei had said to him back in his time before he ended up in the past. Naruto grit his teeth together. Not again, Naruto wasn't weak and he knew he was strong. He never got to prove himself to Kaka-sensei or the rest of his team, but he would prove himself to Kakashi and the team he was with now.

Minato turned back towards Kakashi, keeping a watchful eye on him and seeing if he needed to step in, but the newly ranked jounin seemed to have everything under control. Kakashi had already taken down all the enemy's clones and was rapidly closing in on the original.

"That's 18, you're next." Kakashi pumped more chakra into his Chidori as he approached his final target when the rock nin scoffed.

"Don't get so cocky brat!"

Minato saw the rock nin pull out a sword from his side but noticed that Kakashi wasn't even aware of this! Quickly he dashed towards his student and deflected the enemies sword from Kakashi's midsection and pushed him away while using his other hand to grab the rock nin's foot for balance. Despite the attack missing it's intended mark, it still sliced harshly into Kakashi's shoulder.

With the failed attack, Minato grabbed Kakashi and jumped backwards towards his team as the enemy leaped away and hid himself.

"Kakashi! Are you alright?" Rin immediately ran to Kakashi's side and began to heal his wound but soon realized it was a bit deeper than it appeared to be.

Minato closed his eyes in concentration and started to take off his backpack. _'I've marked him.' _

Minato released his hold on his bag and abruptly vanished. The sound of the bag hitting the ground seemed to echo through the trees and had Naruto snap his head up. His eyes widened when he saw Minato no where in sight. A few seconds later an eruption of crows took off from the trees in a panic and Minato appeared before them again.

'_W-What kind of technique was that? I didn't even see him move!' _Back in the academy Naruto had heard that the Yondaime was nicknamed 'The Yellow Flash' but never knew what that had meant. Maybe that technique was it.

Minato surveyed his team and quickly noticed the state of Kakashi's wound. He needed all of them to be in top notch shape in order to complete the mission and to survive. With their team leader injured like this, he wasn't sure if Kakashi would be able to use his arm properly if they were attacked.

"We'll retreat for now and regroup again later." It was the best course of action at the time but Kakashi immediately protested.

"I'm fine!"

"No you're not! Look at your arm you dumbass! All because you ignored sensei's warnings and charged in like a hot shot!" Obito yelled out not only because he was mad at Kakashi and his choice of actions, but mainly because he was worried. He would never admit it but he did hold some respect towards his bastard of a teammate and regardless of their usual hatred towards each other, he thought of the team as a family and didn't want any of them hurt.

"As if I need to hear that from you. Not from the great Uchiha who froze up in fear back there and was about to cry." Kakashi responded in a condescending tone.

"I-I got something in my eye! That's all!" Obito started to fluster at Kakashi's accusations and lifted his goggles to rub at his eyes.

Kakashi just gave him a scornful look. "Don't you know the 25th rule of Shinobi Conduct? The rule states that a shinobi must never show his tears."

"S-Stop it you two! This isn't the time for your bickering." Rin tried helplessly to ease the tension in the air but failed miserably when Obito and Kakashi continued to glare at one another.

"That's enough! Both of you need to calm down. Kakashi, the rules and regulations are indeed important but that's not all that I taught you. Sometimes there are situations that call for unprepared tactics against an enemy."

Kakashi looked away from Minato and stared at the ground disdainfully. Obito took this as a small victory.

"There you see I-"

"You too, Obito." Minato cut the young Uchiha off before he could rile Kakashi up again.

"There's no way dust could get into your eyes if you have your goggles on. If you're going to talk about self-control, you need to practice that first before you mouth the words. Act strong too."

Naruto watched as his shoulders slumped then switched his gaze over to Kakashi. He was a bit shocked to see that Kakashi hadn't seen that blade the enemy pulled out, it was as plain as day really. _'I guess even when he's a genius at a young age Kaka-sensei still had a lot to learn.' _

"And another thing, Kakashi."

The younger jounin reluctantly lifted his head and stared up at Minato. He had a bad feeling about what his sensei was about to say next.

Minato hardened his gaze at Kakashi. This was for his own good. "You shouldn't use that jutsu anymore." Kakashi stiffened but remained silent to hear his sensei out.

"From what I could see, your attack definitely has speed and power, however, it makes you move too fast and disables you from ascertaining your opponents counterattacks and leaves you vulnerable. It's an imperfect jutsu…."

Everything was quiet as Minato informed Kakashi of his observation. Reality was harsh, but it taught many lessons for survival and Kakashi had to accept the fact that he could never use the Chidori again, not at the risk of his own life. Minato sighed.

"Before we part later on I have one more thing to say. Team work is the key survival in the shinobi world."

Minato's words caused everyone to grimace.

* * *

><p>It was nightfall and Obito and his fellow teammates were asleep while Minato kept watch. Well, Obito was trying to sleep but found that he just couldn't. His sensei's words continuously echoed around in his head. Teamwork was the best weapon any shinobi could posses and if wielded well, any mission could end in success. Obito knew it was important but still….<p>

Grunting, Obito sat up. He wasn't going to fall sleep anytime soon anyway. He looked up at Minato who was sitting on the mound next to them. His heart faltered slightly but got a grip on it. Minato-sensei was always looking out for them and even if his words were sometimes harsh, they were wise and for the benefit of all of them. Pushing his nervousness aside Obito climbed the mound to sit next to Minato.

"Sensei…"

Minato opened his eyes and looked towards his student. He had been waiting for Obito to approach him. He knew that Obito wasn't sleeping and sensed that the teen needed to talk to him about something. He waited patiently as the teen tried to gather his thoughts and voice out his thoughts or concerns.

After a few minutes Obito breathed in deeply and finally spoke but was unable to look his sensei in the eyes as he did.

"I…I know that teamwork is important sensei but..." Obito's eyes drooped while his

hands clenched tightly. "Kakashi is always criticizing me about how I lack discipline and…I mean I know I'm not the best ninja and that my clan looks down on me like a failure…and Kakashi is a great shinobi…" Obito trailed off. His mind was whirling with emotions and couldn't verbalize what he wanted to say.

Minato noticed his student's struggles. As heartless as Kakashi was to him at times, Obito needed to understand where he was coming from.

"Kakashi is the son of a genius ninja. Sakumo Hatake who was known as the "White Fang" of the Leaf. Even the sanin of our village would pale before his father. He was a legend."

Obito listened intently. He had never heard of the great ninja Sakumo Hatake, but he had heard of the White Fang. If he was such a legend, why didn't the younger generations know the name of the ninja who lived up to his warrior name?

"Kakashi's childhood was spent in the shadow of his genius of a father so it's not surprising that, at times, he may find you as lacking."

"I've heard of the White Fang too…he was the ninja who died protecting the village." Obito felt a little remorse for young jounin. "Kakashi…never spoke a word of that."

Minato glanced at Obito then looked up at the moon. As blank as Minato kept his face, Obito could still hear the slight emotion in his sensei's voice. "He was a great man. Someone who was highly respected in our village and of course, by Kakashi himself."

Minato suddenly paused and Obito waited for his sensei to continue. He was beyond curious to hear about Kakashi's past, he came to the realization that, after the few years he had spent on this team with Rin and Kakashi, he knew practically nothing of his grey-haired teammate.

"Until that incident…"

Obito's eyes widened. "What incident?"

"It isn't my place to tell you something like this, but since you're on this team with Kakashi, I want you to know."

"What happened?"

Minato locked his gaze with Obito. "Kakashi's father took his own life after being slandered."

Obito's stomach clenched. He had no idea…

"Five years ago, Sakumo was leading a team for a difficult mission to infiltrate enemy territory. During the mission, he was forced to make a choice. To complete the mission, or to save his comrades lives…..According to the rules, the mission came as top priority, but in order to save his comrades, Sakumo abandoned the mission."

Obito felt grief start to form in the pit of his gut. Everything that this man did, everything Sakumo Hatake did to save his comrades, Obito knew he would of done the same thing, regardless of the mission. In his heart, he knew he could never place a mission over the safety of his team.

"Sakumo's decision however, resulted in severe losses to the village and the Land of Fire and was ultimately blamed for it. Even worse, the very people he saved turned their backs on him and disparaged him as well. The ordeal slowly took its toll on Sakumo's mental and physical health, until he finally took his own life."

Minato paused and closed his eyes in remembrance. During that time he was one of the few shinobi who had sided with Sakumo.

"Ever since then, Kakashi never spoke a word about his father, and he restricted himself to abide by every rule and regulation for life."

Obito looked away forlornly. He never even had the slightest idea to why Kakashi was the way he was. He didn't know what to say.

Minato looked over at Obito's bleak expression. He smiled sadly. "Obito…please try to understand Kakashi, even if it's just a little. He means wells."

Obito sniffed. He felt a little choked up but didn't want to show his sensei how much Kakashi's past was affecting him.

"I-I know…" Obito signed heavily. "Sensei, I think I…need to be alone for awhile. I'll be close by."

Without a second thought Obito took off, he desperately needed to sort out his emotions. Kakashi had always been a bastard towards him and he never knew why the jounin would continuously berate him even for the smallest of things, but now…now he knew why and he couldn't fully blame Kakashi for the way he was. He needed to think about this for awhile.

Minato watched his student take off on him. Normally he would of stopped him because it was dangerous to leave the safety of the team and to go off on your own while out on a mission. But Minato sensed no danger and he knew exactly where Obito was judging by the location of his chakra signature. Besides, if anything were to come up, Minato had Obito marked, like the rest of his team. He would admit that he was probably over protective of his team, even if he didn't show it.

When Obito was no longer in sight Minato turned back around and closed his eyes. A small smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

"It's not polite to eavesdrop….Naruto."

Hearing slight shuffling of clothes and muttered curses Minato snorted in amusement. He knew that the blonde gaki had been awake and listening the entire time. Truth be told, Minato believed that Naruto needed to hear that as well.

Naruto instinctually tensed up upon hearing Minato call out to him. _'Dammit! I thought I was faking it so well too…' _

"Come over here Naruto."

Reluctantly Naruto got up and trudged over to Minato and plopped down next to him. He sat quietly and willed himself not to fidget, waiting for Minato to scold him for listening in on that very private conversation. He didn't even dare to look over at his sensei.

Trying not to let his amusement show Minato steeled his face over. He could feel the nerve-wracking vibes pouring out of the blonde genin and inwardly he smirked. Teasing the brat was always fun.

"So, Naruto. How much did you hear?"

"Oh I-I uh, I didn't…I mean I…" Naruto was desperately trying to grasp for some sort of excuse to give but knew it was pointless. He felt really bad, not just because he heard everything, but because of what he learned about Kakashi. Naruto closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry sensei."

"Sorry for what?"

Naruto snapped his eyes open and stared at Minato. His face was still blank but his eyes were swimming with mirth at the blonde's supposed blunder. Naruto's eye twitched.

"You mean I'm not in trouble?"

Minato's lips twitched slightly until he finally smirked. "No. I knew from the beginning that you were awake and had been listening in."

"Oh…"

Naruto sunk in on himself. He hadn't meant to eavesdrop but he couldn't sleep! His body was tired but his mind was restless and wouldn't allow him to drift off into the world of unconsciousness. Then he heard Obito move about and go up to sit next to Minato and they began to talk. Naruto knew that whatever was bothering Obito wasn't any of his business at that moment and had every intention of ignoring them but when Kakashi was brought up, he just couldn't help but listen intently.

Minato looked at his sulking student and reached out to him. He had gotten into this habit of patting him on the head or ruffling up his hair that resembled his so much whenever he felt that Naruto was feeling down. He didn't know why, he just had this insistent urge to console him. Minato had decided that it was probably just his kind nature that made him feel this way towards Naruto, though, he never really displayed such fondness to his other students.

"It's alright Naruto. I wanted you to hear that conversation too. You needed to learn about Kakashi's past."

Naruto's sky blue eyes met with Minato's azure gaze. Naruto's eyebrows furrowed together, not understanding Minato.

"Naruto, I know Kakashi has been unjustly harsh towards you. Even more so towards you than Obito lately. While I fully understand Kakashi and his choice of reasoning, I can't say I can explain his current behavior towards you."

Naruto averted his eyes. He didn't know why either, but Kakashi's past certainly explained a lot of things. All he wanted was to befriend Kakashi. Naruto sometimes wondered why he tried so hard to do that. He had done the same with Sasuke. He was becoming really close to Obito, and slowly becoming good friends with Rin, not to mention Minato and Kushina were always there for him. So why was he chasing after Kakashi?

In the beginning the only reason he tried so hard to befriend people was because he didn't want to be alone anymore. Living most of his life in solitude was painful. With no one to turn to when you were sad, no one to turn to for help, no one to praise you for doing something good, no one to scold you for doing something bad, and no one to just always be there… it was lonely. But since coming to the past Naruto now had people to fill in those gaps in his heart. So why did Kakashi matter?

'_I think I just selfishly want to pull everyone around me and keep them close.' _

"Naruto, what do you think?"

"Huh?" Naruto shook himself from his daze lightly and directed his attention back to Minato.

"When you heard everything. What do you think about it?"

Without even thinking Naruto just blurted out his answer. "I would of done the same."

A bit taken aback by the instant reply Minato spoke again. "Really…even after knowing all the consequences you would face?"

Naruto glared at Minato, the feelings of anger and remorse he felt when he heard of what the villagers did to Kakashi's father were resurfacing. "That doesn't matter. Even if the villagers treated Sakumo as a pariah for not completing the mission, they should of at least seen him as a hero because he saved his comrades lives. When it comes down to it, Sakumo did the right thing, he did the most humane thing anyone could of ever done!"

"That may be so….but it is apart of shinobi conduct to put personal feelings aside and do what must be done." Minato was agreeing completely with Naruto, but he wanted to hear more. Naruto was indeed an interesting little guy and he wondered if Naruto's thoughts were based on some silly fantasy or were actually backed up by experience.

If possible, Naruto's glare intensified. "The shinobi conduct is wrong! All it does is try to hide what we all really are, and we're all the same. We're only human. Abiding by the rules is important, but its more important to do what you know is right."

Naruto sighed, all the anger he was holding in seemed to just drain away. To be slandered by your own village for actually saving another human beings life was preposterous! They all turned their back on Kakashi's father and Naruto felt resentment for the village all over again. Even back then, the village was still ignorant. Even years later after Naruto was born, they hadn't changed, not one bit.

He himself was slandered and hated just for holding the demon inside of him. After Naruto found out he was the Kyuubi's container the Sandaime had a talk with him. He told him that Naruto was a hero because he kept the monster concealed away and was protecting everyone. Too bad no one treated him like one.

He was starting to understand Kakashi a little. However, he found it so ironic that, after everything his father had done which he found was right, Kakashi disregarded him and did everything he could to stay true to every rule. It was sad. He wasn't like his Kaka-sensei in that sense.

After Naruto calmed down from his short outburst, he whispered softly.

"Ano ne Minato-sensei…."

Minato stared at Naruto as the boy fiddled with the hem of his shirt. Naruto didn't continue right after speaking up so he decided to try to coax him along.

"What is it?"

Naruto continued to play with the ends of his shirt, not very sure if he should reveal what he was thinking. After a few moments of silence Naruto made up his mind.

"My old sensei," Naruto paused for a second, "back in the Grass village….he taught me the most important lesson of my life that I'll never forget."

Intrigued Minato gestured for Naruto to continue. Not once had he spoken of anything of his old life back in the Grass village after he told the 3rd Hokage his story. For awhile now, he had been wondering how to approach the blonde about it and ask him, but he had the feeling the kid wouldn't willing speak freely of it, so he never brought it up.

"And what did he teach you?"

Naruto turned towards Minato with a brilliant smile on his face, his eyes shining with admiration for his former sensei.

"He said that those who break the rules are scum…..but those who abandoned their comrades are worse than scum."

'_Probably the only thing that I admire about Kaka-sensei.' _

Minato was stunned. Truly, the words Naruto spoke were admirable but that just left many unanswered questions.

'_Naruto claims that he was abandoned by his teammates, but with what he just said….it doesn't seem like that was the case. If he learned that from his sensei, then I don't believe they would of just abandoned Naruto.' _

For now Minato pushed those thoughts aside. He smiled at Naruto. "Your former sensei sounds like he was a great shinobi. A very commendable person."

Naruto perked up slightly. He hadn't thought about Kaka-sensei in awhile now but, he had to admit that while the man wasn't always around to help him with his training or pay much attention to him, Minato was right. He was a respectable shinobi and he had, on a couple occasions, dropped by Naruto's place to give him a basket of vegetables. During that time Naruto hadn't wanted to think that the jounin did it cause he cared, but only because he felt obliged to keep his students in top health and ready for missions. So maybe Naruto wasn't giving his old sensei enough credit. Naruto would probably never know.

"He was."

Silence engulfed the two of them and for awhile they just stared up at the stars together, enjoying the others company. Much too soon for Naruto's liking Minato disrupted the peaceful atmosphere.

"I think it's time you head off to bed and get some rest. You have a long day ahead of you tomorrow and you'll need all your strength."

Naruto groaned, he didn't want to go to bed yet but he inwardly admitted that he was very tired. As much as he was enjoying just sitting with Minato he occasionally found himself nodding off and tried to snap himself out of it.

"Alright, goodnight Minato-sensei."

"Goodnight kid," Minato watched Naruto get up and drowsily walk towards his sleeping bag. Suddenly he called back out to him. "Hey, Naruto."

Stopping in his tracks Naruto looked back towards his sensei.

"Don't judge Kakashi too quickly. Even though he's hard on you, I think deep down he does accepts you, he just doesn't want to admit it."

Naruto nodded and finally crawled and snuggled into his sleeping bag. The days events finally crashing down onto his weary body and he slowly started to drift off to sleep. Minato's reassurance made Naruto smile. He hoped that Minato was right.

* * *

><p>The air was thick with unease and it was close to being unbearable. The team had been silent ever since Minato left them to do his part of the mission. Kakashi was now completely in charge and Naruto wasn't all that comfortable with the arrangements. Although Naruto gained a much better understanding of Kakashi last night, that didn't change how he was now and Kakashi hadn't spoken a word to any of them except to Minato. So Naruto was just a little bit perturbed.<p>

They continued on, traveling deeper and deeper into the forest and into the enemies territory. If everything went smoothly, then they would arrive at the Kannabi Bridge within a couple hours and would have no problem to complete their mission.

Not too soon after Naruto was beginning to think that maybe nothing would go wrong, it happened. They were ambushed. Before the attack could even happen Kakashi had sensed their enemies and not even a second after sharpened logs were falling from above, hurtling towards them. Obito quickly made a few hand signs.

"Katon! Goukakyuu no jutsu!"

Everyone ducked to avoid any flaming debris falling on them. A crack on one of the burnt logs alerted them all to the enemies whereabouts and Kakashi immediately lunged forward to attack. Naruto became distracted from keeping a close eye on Kakashi's battle that he hadn't sensed the other rock nin creeping up behind them until he heard a sharp cry from Rin.

Whirling around Naruto and Obito gasped as Rin had just been taken hostage.

"We'll be taking this one." As the rock nin made the hand signs for a teleportation jutsu Naruto charged at them.

"No! Stop!"

The enemy nin teleported right before Naruto got to them and cause him to slam into the water ground. Beyond angry Naruto punched the ground and yelled. He had been right next to Rin and he just let them take her! What kind of ninja was he that he couldn't even save one friend? As Naruto got up Obito ran up next to him.

"Come on Naruto! We can still catch them!"

"Wait!"

Both Obito and Naruto stopped as they were about to leap off into the trees and turned towards to Kakashi. Getting frustrated Naruto yelled.

"What are you waiting for? They're getting away! We have to save-"

"Let them go."

Obito and Naruto both shared stunned expressions. Taking a cautious step forward Obito spoke.

"Do you realize…what you just said?"

Kakashi just stared at Obito with a stern, calculating look. "Aah. The three of us will continue on with the mission."

"Without Rin? We can't just abandon her!" Naruto couldn't believe what he just heard. This….this Kakashi…wasn't anything like Kaka-sensei. Kaka-sensei would of never abandoned his teammates, he would of risked his life to save them! He had risked his life for him and Sasuke and Sakura back during the mission to the Land of Waves! It was so baffling, why was he like this?

Kakashi regarded Naruto with a cold, demeaning look. "Rin comes later. If the enemy finds out what we're up to from her then they'll increase the security around the bridge. If that happens we'll fail the mission. It's a good thing she's a Medical nin. They won't kill her right away, they'll probably use her to tend to their wounded soldiers."

"Screw the mission! Even if the security is still increased we'll still have a chance of completing it, but we won't ever have the chance to save Rin again if we don't go now! We don't know if they will keep Rin alive just for that," Naruto was shouting now. If there was one thing Naruto valued most over his own life, it was the precious friends he had made.

"Shut your mouth you traitor," Kakashi glared deadly at Naruto. "I don't want to hear those words come out of your mouth after you, a Grass shinobi, abandoned his own village. You're not a true ninja of Konoha and never will be. You're scum."

Naruto's mouth hanged open in utter shock. A traiter? Scum? As much as it hurt to hold in the truth Naruto knew he could never reveal to them that he really was a true Konoha shinobi. He bowed his head and lifted his hand to touch the headband that symbolized that he was a leaf shinobi.

"I don't care what you say. I am a ninja of Konoha now and proud of it."

"No, you're not. You're an outsider. And that's all you'll ever be."

Naruto's hands shook. He could feel his rage bubbling deep inside and it stirred the demon residing in him. Kyuubi loved his rage, it made Naruto vulnerable to it's influence.

"Even if I'm not from this village, at least I'm a better comrade than you. At least I would go and risk my life to save a friend."

"A shinobi must put personal feelings aside in order to complete the mission. That is one of the rules we are bound to."

Naruto finally looked up and met Kakashi's gaze head on. Despite everything that he had learned about Kakashi he just couldn't understand him. And he didn't want to. Naruto broke eye contact and turned his back to Kakashi. Before he took off told Kakashi the one thing that came to his mind.

"You're despicable. Your father was a better shinobi than you could ever be."

Kakashi stood shell shocked as Naruto ran off. His words really shook him to his core. As if he hadn't had enough Obito stepped in.

"Kakashi, he's right. Rin had always saved our lives with her medical ninjutsu and was always there for us. If it weren't for her, we'd be dead."

Calming his destructive emotions Kakashi spoke. "That was Rin's duty."

Without warning Obito punched Kakashi in the face and sent him flying backwards.

"I don't like you after all! I hate you!"

"I don't care about how you feel about me. I'm the captain and you will obey my orders. Naruto has proven once again as a traitor for running off against my command."

Kakashi picked himself up and stared at Obito indifferently. "You need to understand that us shinobi are all tools to be used. Rin was a tool, and she played her part well. Emotions to us are useless."

Obito gave Kakashi an incredulous look. "Are you serious…?"

For a brief moment, Obito swore he saw guilt flash through Kakashi's eyes but it was gone before he could confirm it. He looked away from Obito.

"Do you seriously believe that?"

"….Yeah. I do…"

After a minute of disbelieving silence Obito glared. "Forget it. The two of us never get along. I'm going after Naruto and together we'll save Rin ourselves."

Obito started to walk off when Kakashi spoke up again. "You don't understand anything. You don't know what happens when you break the rules."

Without turning towards him Obito did the same thing Naruto did, told him what was on his mind.

"I believe that the White Fang was a hero."

For the second time, Kakashi was stunned. Even Obito took his father's side….

"It's true that in the ninja world, those who break the rules and regulations are regarded as scum….but," Obito finally turned around and locked his eyes with Kakashi's.

"Those who abandon their comrades….are worse than scum! Naruto and I are going to be trash anyway, so we choose to break the rules to do what's right."

Obito turned his back to Kakashi and walked away. "And if that doesn't make us true _Konoha_ ninja, then I'll crush this 'so-called' ninja'."

Without saying a word, Kakashi turned away and walked in the opposite direction. As Obito's chakra signature began to fade away with the increasing distance he stopped. Memories of his father assaulted his mind and he couldn't stop them from over flowing. He tried so hard to forget lock these memories away and to forget his traitorous father but now…he didn't know what to think anymore. A sharp pain suddenly throbbed in his arm, the same arm Rin had tended to.

Was his father truly right in his actions all those years ago? After pondering the idea for a few minutes Kakashi sighed. For the first time in his life, he was going to do something he had forbidden himself from ever doing.

* * *

><p>'<em>Where is he….I should of bumped into Naruto by now.' <em>

Obito hid in a tree that faced the cave that the rock nin took Rin into. He had found them easily but he was surprised that Naruto was no where in sight. He couldn't even sense his chakra anywhere. A thought struck him and he felt panic start to clutch it's hands around his throat.

'_What if…what if Naruto was captured as well by other Rock shinobi? Even if I successfully save Rin, there's no way that I'd be able to find him.' _

Obito pushed those thoughts aside. Naruto was strong, he believed in him. He wouldn't of gotten caught so easily by the enemy, not without a fight, and he knew Naruto could handle his own, he knew from all the training they did together.

Taking a deep breath Obito calmed his racing heart. He needed to focus in order to save Rin by himself. He gave himself a couple face slaps to get his head together.

"Alright…I can do this….here I go!"

"Going where?"

Obito's heart just stopped as he turned around to see one of the rock shinobi right behind him. His mind went blank as the rock nin took out a kunai and lunged towards him. Before he could even think about dodging a loud clash of metal met his ears and he gasped.

"K-Kakashi? Why are you…"

Blood splattered onto the tree branch as Kakashi sliced into the enemies flesh with his sword. He landed in front of Obito and turned to him.

"Well, I can't let a cry baby like you do this alone. What kind of captain would that make me then?"

Obito was too shocked at Kakashi's appearance to even feel offended by the insult.

"Silver hair and white chakra blade…are you the White Fang?"

Kakashi glanced over at the rock nin. He looked slightly nervous mentioning his father's warrior nickname.

"No, this is just my father's keepsake."

The rock shinobi visibly relaxed. "Ah, I see, then you're the White Fang's kid. I don't need to be afraid then." He cast a jutsu and suddenly vanished.

Kakashi sharpened his senses to catch a trace of the enemy but found nothing.

"Be on your guard, even his scent has been erased. We'll have to catch him from the slightest of movements."

Obito tensed and looked all around him. He couldn't see or sense the ninja anywhere! A slight crack was heard and Kakashi whirled around.

"Obito! Behind you!"

Obito turned around but it was too late. Kakashi had already jumped in between them to defend him and left himself completely vulnerable. The rock shinobi had appeared and was going to stab Obito but with Kakashi in the way, he instead sliced the left side of Kakashi's face and eye. A bit irritating, the enemy vanished again.

"Kakashi! Kakashi are you alright?"

Pressing his hand into his eye Kakahsi painfully tried to sit up. He knew he had just lost his left eye because it was throbbing in agony. He glanced at Obito with his good eye and saw his tears.

"Don't tell me you got dust in your eyes again. Ninja's don't cry."

Obito lifted his goggles and rubbed furiously at his eyes. He was so ashamed of himself. Kakashi was always protecting him because he wasn't strong enough to protect himself. And now Kakashi probably just lost his left eye, all because of him!

'_Not this time. I'll protect Kakashi with my own strength and save Rin. I'll live up to my words, I'm not going to let what I told Kakashi be just empty talk!' _

The enemy was fast approaching, believing he still had the advantage against those brats. He lift his hand about to strike but was abruptly stopped. His body exploded in pain and he quickly realized that the brat saw through his deception. His eyes widened when he saw those red eyes.

"I will protect my comrades this time!" Obito pulled the kunai out as the rock nin fell, he was dead.

"Obito…your eyes…" This was Kakashi's first time seeing the sharingan and he instantly knew why the Uchiha clan were so feared on the battle field. Nothing escaped their eyes.

"Yeah…this must be the sharingan." Obito stared at his hands and looked over at Kakashi. It was amazing. He could see the movement of chakra and everything.

Kakahsi flinched and pressed clutched at his eye. He pulled out the emergency med kit that Rin had given to him.

"Kakashi, are you alright?"

"Aah, but it looks like I lost my left eye. But once I attend to it, we will go in and save Rin."

Obito nodded and helped to dress Kakashi's wound. As Obito wrapped some bandages around Kakashi's eye, Kakashi spoke.

"Obito…where is Naruto?"

Kakashi had expected to meet Obito and Naruto here but became worried when he didn't see his blonde teammate anywhere. He didn't want to think of the worst case scenario but he hoped that Naruto hadn't been captured as well.

"I don't know. I didn't see him at all while I was tracking the enemy down."

Kakashi grunted. After Naruto left he felt as if the genin had just ripped his heart to shreds viciously with his words. He had felt the overwhelming feelings of guilt engulf him as he raced after his two teammates, desperately trying to catch up to them. Kakashi said things that were out of line. In a lot of ways, he had to admit that, Naruto was a better shinobi than him. Just like his father.

"After we save Rin we'll go look for Naruto."

Obito opened his mouth but nothing came out. He knew how much Kakashi had detested Naruto but he never knew why. The fact that Kakashi was even going to try and save Naruto as well surprised him. Even though Kakashi came for Rin, he half expected he wouldn't do the same for Naruto. He grinned.

"You're starting to like Naruto now aren't you?"

Kakashi sent a glare at Obito. "Don't be ridiculous. He's apart of our team too and we have to save him as well. That's all."

Obito finished with bandaging Kakashi's eye and, despite the dire situation, chuckled. Kakashi was trying to brush off his little comment but he had a feeling he knew him better than that. Naruto was beginning to grow on the young jounin, even if he himself didn't know it yet.

"Stop with your foolish grinning and lets go. We have no time to waste."

All amusement dissipated and both of them got up. "We'll just go in through the front and fight him head on."

Obito paused and stared at Kakashi. "…Wow. That's very…uncharacteristic of you. Usually you like to plan things out a bit more thoroughly."

"Usually I would but we're running out of time. The longer that other ninja has with Rin, the more chance he has of getting information out of her. Not to mention we need to find Naruto then complete our mission." After saying this Kakashi felt the weight of the situation crash down upon him. Things had just gone from bad to worse.

The two of them jumped down from the tree and without wasting any time, dashed inside of the cave. Their appearance alerted the rock nin and he turned around and sneered.

"Pathetic. You came all this way just to save her?"

Obito studied Rin's slouched form and saw her chakra flow with his sharingan. "Her chakra isn't the same as ours, it's disturbed."

"Then she's probably under a genjutsu," Kakashi took out his fathers sword and stood ready. "Be careful, he's fast!"

Instantly the rock nin dashed towards them and whipped out two hidden short blades that were hidden in his sleeves. He swiped at Obito then at Kakashi and pushed them back. Using his sharingan, Obito could predict the enemies moves and easily avoided his attacks. Kakashi, however, was doing well but with lost sight of his left eye that widened his blind spot and could be used against him.

The sound of steel clashing harshly against each other echoed throughout the cave as Leaf and Rock nin exchanged blow for blow. The enemy leaped over Obito's back then tried to thrust his short swords into him. Bending backwards, Obito dodged the attack. He sensed Kakashi coming up from behind and then saw the rock nin change his counter attack to take a swipe at Kakashi. Instinctually Obito lifted up his legs and pushed the enemies arms back and gave Kakashi a clear opening to attack.

When the ninja fell, both Obito and Kakashi ran towards Rin. Kakahsi gripped her shoulder and made the sign for release and freed her from the genjutsu. She gasped and looked up to see her two teammates. Shock and relief washed over her.

"Kakashi…Obito!"

"We came to save you Rin. You're safe now." Obito leaned over onto his knees breathing heavily.

"Yes, now let's get out of here." Kakashi quickly untied the ropes binding Rin.

"I see, even if you guys are skilled ninja, you're still just kids."

The three of them turned sharply to see that their fallen enemy had gotten up. He quickly performed a few hand signs and slammed his hands into the ground.

"Earth style: Rock Breaker!"

Suddenly the entire cave began to quake and tremble as rocks and boulders started to come crashing down.

"Everyone! Run to the exit!" Kakashi yelled and began to run with his teammates right alongside him. They were so close to the exit when a rock slammed into Kakashi's blind side. He fell in a heap on the floor, unable to move.

"Kakashi!" Rin shouted and turned to run towards him when Obito rushed past her. He grabbed Kakashi and threw him out of the way. He looked up and froze in place as he saw a giant boulder come crashing down towards him.

Rin rushed to Kakashi's side as Kakashi looked up towards Obito. Time seemed to slow down as he saw that boulder about to crush Obito. Fear and panic seized him as he screamed.

"OBITO!"

"BAKA!"

A streak of orange was all Kakashi saw as he saw it crash into Obito and shove him out of the way. The boulder smashed into the ground and dust and debris flew everywhere.

The boom the colliding boulder made resonated off the cave's walls until all was silent.

When the dust cleared up Kakashi and Rin stood. The cave had collapsed in on itself and they were trapped inside. Kakashi rushed over to where Obito had previously stood and began to push and pull rocks out of the way. That voice he had heard…it couldn't be him. And even if it was him, then that meant that they were both…

As Kakashi pushed another rock out of the way he heard coughing. He pulled another rock out of the way and peered into the opening it made and saw his two teammates. Naruto was laying over Obito and kept both their heads down with his arms. No rocks had crushed them, they were alright. Relief and happiness washed over Kakashi and he never thought he'd be so happy to see the blonde.

He jumped in and landed beside them. "Are you guys alright?"

Naruto finally lifted his head and stared up at Kakashi disbelievingly. "Kakashi! Why are you here? A-And what happened to your eye?"

Naruto sat up and got off of Obito to get a better look at Kakashi's bandaged eye when he heard Obito groan. He looked down at him and flinched. He had saved Obito from being crushed under the rocks, but his left leg still got caught up in it and was now broken.

Rin then came in and gasped when she laid her eyes on Naruto. Before she could say anything her attention was grabbed by Obito who moaned in pain again.

"Obito!" She immediately examined his leg and confirmed that it was broken. She quickly started to give him first aid as Kakashi looked over at Naruto.

His annoying orange clothes was littered with cuts and tears everywhere and he could even see blood seeping out of his poorly wrapped bandages on his side. What the hell happened to him? Kakashi opened his mouth to ask just that when Naruto stopped him by suddenly placing his hand gently on the left side of his face.

"Kakashi…what happened?"

The words Kakashi wanted to speak seemed to be lodged inside his throat. He wasn't used to such close physical contact from anybody unless it was during sparring or battles. And Naruto was way too close for comfort as well. Grunting instead, Kakashi pushed Naruto away slightly, trying to regain his personal space.

Reluctantly, Naruto pulled away. He was dumbfounded to see Kakashi was here. When he left him before he never expected for him to follow and help save Rin. And now his eye….he had a feeling Kakashi just lost it. But that didn't make sense…well it did but it didn't. He knew that Kaka-sensei had the sharingan so he had to of course lost his original eye, but then, when and how does he obtain the sharingan?

"We need a plan. That rock nin is most likely right outside the cave waiting to see if any of us survived. We need to dispose of him quickly."

Rin looked up at Kakashi and protested. "But Kakashi! You can't fight in your condition! And neither can Obito and I'm not much help in fighting. And even with Naruto's help it's hopeless!"

"Fine. Then I'll go out there and distract him while you guys escape. It's the best course of action."

"No."

Kakashi looked over at Naruto and saw the hard set expression on his face. "I'm captain and it's my job to make sure we complete the mission. I'll be a decoy while you guy's complete the mission."

Naruto clenched his fist together and felt the powerful urge to just punch Kakashi, but restrained himself. The guy was banged up enough as it was.

"Captain or not I'm not going to let you sacrifice yourself for us! We started this mission together, and we'll finish it together!"

Staring intently at Naruto Kakashi knew that the blonde would not be swayed from his decision. Kakashi sighed. He didn't know what to do. None of them were in any condition to go out there and fight. It'd be a lost cause on their part and they would fail not only fail the mission, but probably die as well. Suddenly Naruto smacked Kakashi on the shoulder. The jounin looked over at him and saw the genin grinning.

"Don't worry, I have a plan that will definitely work. Just trust me."

Without even thinking Kakashi nodded. He stopped himself when he realized what he had just did.

'_When did I start to trust and rely on him…?' _

He guessed that it didn't matter at this point. Naruto waved his hand at him in a gesture for him to lean closer so he could whisper his plan into his ear. Obito and Rin could still hear it of course but they humored the blonde anyway.

* * *

><p>It had been about half an hour since the rock nin had crushed those stupid Leaf shinobi in that cave. He had sat outside of it to rest and watch to see if any of them survived. After waiting this long he decided that they were all dead. He got up to go find his other fellow rock shinobi when an explosion behind him erupted. He whisked around and saw that silver haired brat standing and…that blonde kid was with them too? He didn't remember him ever coming into the cave before.<p>

"So stubborn, you're alls till alive?" He took in his opponents appearance and smirked. The two of the were all battered and bleeding and weakened. Killing them would be easy.

"I guess it doesn't matter. Even with just the two of you, you could never beat me!"

Naruto smirked. "Oh really? How would you feel then if…there were two hundred of us?"

The rock nin blinked. "Huh?" This kid was bluffing, there weren't more of them anywhere from what he could sense. Those brats were as good as dead. He started to dash towards them when Naruto lifted his hands up in his most trademark sign.

"Tajuu! Kage bushin no jutsu!"

The rock nin stopped dead in his tracks as an explosion of smoke consumed the surrounding area and when it finally cleared he blanched. Every….the trees, the ground, all around him there were clones of this kid!

The rock shinobi wasn't the only one to be shocked, Kakashi was stunned as well. When he listened to Naruto's plan he hadn't really expected him to make solid clones and to make this many of them! It was amazing, he knew that these clones ate up a massive amount of chakra, yet here Naruto was not even breaking a sweat. This jutsu was A-ranked so how in the world did Naruto know such a jutsu?

"W-What is this? This is some kind of joke! There's no way a brat like you could do something like this!"

Ignoring the rock nin's outburst Naruto turned to Kakashi and gave him an encouraging smile. "Go on Kakashi, I'll back you up. Let me be your eye and watch out for you."

More than reassured Kakashi felt immense gratitude fill his entire being. He had been wrong about Naruto. Completely wrong and as he lunged forward to attack, all he thought about was how he was going to repay him for this.

Kakashi came down with his father's sword and clashed when the rock nin's short blades caught it in between them like scissors. His father's sword shattered from the force the rock shinobi used to break it apart. Kakashi propelled himself backwards and rushed forward again.

Naruto's clones leaped out with him and through all sorts of weapons at the rock nin. Senbons, shurikan, kunai, anything he had on him to help be Kakashi's defense while he attacked.

Most of Naruto's clones were destroyed during the battle. The ones destroyed happened to be the ones guarding Kakashi's left flank. Seeing his opening the rock nin seized it and charged into it, ready to strike down the brat when a bright light blinded him.

Naruto himself saw the rock nin go in for the kill in Kakashi's blind spot and immediately threw a flash bomb at him. Not only did it temporarily blind the enemy, but alerter Kakashi as well. Swinging around Kakashi thrust a kunai into the enemies chest and killed him.

Naruto's clone began to disperse as Kakashi dropped his kunai and walked a bit unsteadily towards the cave his other two teammates were in. Obito was standing up now on his good leg while leaning against Rin for support. When they saw Kakashi look down at them their faces broke out into large, happy smiles, knowing that Kakashi and Naruto did it. As Kakashi helped his teammates get out of the cave Naruto came running up to them.

"We got to go! A large number of rock shinobi are coming this way!"

Startled Kakashi took a hold of Obito to help him stand and leaped up into the trees with Naruto and Rin following him. Before they could make another leap they were surrounded. Kakashi set Obito down and surveyed the area. There were probably about thirty of them. There was no way he and Naruto could take them all down, even if Naruto conjured up a bunch of clones.

"I don't suppose you guys will try to escape if I distracted them?"

Naruto scoffed at him while Obito snorted and Rin smiled. "We already went over this. We're a team, and if we're going to die, then we'll die together!" Naruto gave Kakashi a carefree smile, which completely contradicted the situation that they were in, but somehow, it helped Kakashi to ease up a bit. His smile made it seem like nothing could go wrong, that everything would turn out right in the end despite the odds.

Kakashi shared a look which each of his teammates and couldn't of been happier to be apart of this squad. He then faced his enemies and started to charge up his chidori in his hand. If he and his friends were going to die, then he was going to make sure he took some of their enemies with them.

All the rock nin closed in on them about to attack. Before Kakashi could even lift up his arm to counter a yellow streak went pas him. He lost the control he had on his chidori and his chakra slowly faded away. His vision blurred and he felt gravity pull him down. He had exhausted his chakra reserves and as he felt arms circle around his limp form he fell into darkness.

* * *

><p>It was leading into two weeks now since Naruto's disappearance. His anbu came back empty handed a few days ago and after they gave the 3rd Hokage their report and left, Sarutobi slumped in his seat in despair. Naruto was like another grandchild to him and he loved him dearly. How was it that his anbu couldn't find one child!<p>

The Sandaime rubbed at his temples. He could feel all the years of stress weight down on him once again, but this time, it was close to suffocating him. He got up, he was going to retire early for the day. Too much was on his mind and he couldn't work with the state his mind was in at the moment. As he walked around his desk he heard a knock at his door.

Sighing in agitation he allowed whoever it was to come in. It was Kakashi and his face hardened. He knew that the man was going through just as much of a tough time as he was. He came almost everyday asking the him if there was any news on Naruto's location. Sarutobi sighed and looked away.

"I'm sorry Kakashi, There's nothing new on Naruto's case today."

Silence met his ears. He looked back over at Kakashi and was unsettled. Kakashi's entire being was drooping and his eye was filled with deep anguish. He was so spellbound that he almost didn't hear Kakashi speak.

"That is not why I am here Hokage-sama."

"Ah then why-"

As Sarutobi asked this Kakashi lifted his left hand up and removed his headband. His left eye that he always kept covered and hidden as revealed to him. In all his years as Hokage, many things surprised the old man, but this one topped it all.

"Kakashi…what happened to the sharingan?"

TBC…

* * *

><p><strong>*peeks head over hiding spot* Now before any of you attack me for leaving a cliffy I apologize! X.x It's like 4:30 in the morning for me and I need to sleep! DX <strong>

**Also, don't get mad please, that Kakashi's sharingan is now gone. What would you expect now that Obito is still alive? And also, before anyone says that Kakashi needs his sharingan because it makes him powerful and what not you're wrong. Kakashi is a genius in his own right and hardly uses the sharingan, he doesn't need it to be a feared and skilled shinobi. And don't worry about the chidori. I know Kakashi could only use it with the sharingan but I think I came up with a clever way for him to still use it ;D **

**I apologize for any spelling or grammar errors, I'm tired and I bet I made a lot of them. Plus I realized that I've been spelling jounin wrong…I think it's with a 'u' lol…Okay, until next time! Thank you for reading and please leave a review! They are what motivates me to stay up in the wee hours of the night to update faster ^-^ **

**And Merry Christmas to everyone or Happy Holidays! Consider this update an early Christmas gift to you all. Ho Ho Ho! X3 **


	6. Chapter 6

**I am back and I bring with me *drum rolls* chapter 6! =D I don't know if this chapter will be as long, it'll probably end up average like all the others. lol Also, I received quite a few questions in the reviews, most pretty much similar to one another, and I will answer them at the end of the chapter in the A/N. So please enjoy ^-^ **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto but he's on my Christmas wish list :3**

~Come on Closer~

Remorse is the only emotion that filled Kakashi to the brink of his being as he aimlessly wandered throughout the streets of Konoha. His mental condition hadn't improved in the slightest since the disappearance of his youngest student. If Naruto wasn't found, then Kakashi didn't know how he could move on with his life.

He moved on after the death of his father. He moved on after the death of Obito and Rin. And he had moved on after the loss of his sensei and Kushina. Three times in his life he had lost people precious to him and three times he had, with much difficulty, pushed himself to continue forward. He couldn't do it a fourth time. One of the reasons he continued on as a person and not an empty shell was because of Obito's eye, he wanted to see the future for him and hope that Obito could see it with him.

Then Naruto became one of his reasons. Looking after the boy and indirectly raising him as a sensei, all he wanted was to see him grow up and to be what Kushina and Minato would have wanted him to be. A splendid ninja loved and cherished by everyone around him and who held a deep love for his village, just like his parents had.

Kakashi came to a stop as he realized he unconsciously brought himself to the KIA memorial stone. He wasn't surprised, whenever he was deeply troubled with something he would always come here. It soothed him and he still felt a connection with his deceased loved ones when he was near the stone. It was probably strange of him to seek comfort from the dead but he really had no one else to lean on when life got out of hand and when things go wrong that he would blame himself for, whether or not it was his fault. It was just in Kakashi's nature to shoulder the burden of his comrades and keep them safe and if something went wrong, he would blame himself for it.

Gaze filled with sorrow, Kakashi looked over the names of the people he had once grown to cherish. He lifted his hand and gently ran his fingers over the engraved name of Minato. After a few seconds he moved on to Kushina's name. If they happened to appear before him right now he wondered what they'd say. If they'd be angry with him or if they'd be sad. Even as a grown man he still felt the need for someone to guide him to the right path, he sometimes still had doubts.

Subconsciously, his fingers moved onto Rin's name. He was aware that she had been in love with him when she was still alive. After Obito's death he started to care about her, but not in a romantic way. Kakashi wished that she had fallen in love with someone better, someone who would of returned her feelings and not put her through pain like he had. Kakashi closed his eyes, back then he never wanted nor needed to harbor such feelings for another person, and he still didn't, but sometimes he wondered if he should of at least given Rin a chance. He mainly avoided her because he knew of Obito's feelings towards her and, even though being dead, didn't want to take his place with Rin. He wouldn't betray him no matter what.

Kakashi closed his eyes as memories of Obito crossed his mind. He wished he had befriended him sooner and had a chance to truly understand him. If Obito had lived that day, Kakashi was sure that the two of them would of probably become best friends.

While thinking of Obito, Kakashi's hand moved towards his deceased friend's name. He didn't have to look to see where any of them were, he knew their locations by heart, but as Kakashi's hand moved over Obtio's name, his hand stilled. The engravings under his fingertips felt different, they weren't the same as Obito's. Kakashi opened his eye and removed his hand so he could look at the name he had stumbled upon. He blinked.

In the place where Obito's name should have been was someone else's. That couldn't be right. Obito's name had always been just above Rin's name since he had died before her, but now it wasn't there. Kakashi scanned his eyes over the rest of the stone, searching for Obito's name and as each unfamiliar name passed by, his throat constricted painfully.

'_Where is his name? It's no where on the stone!' _

Kakashi walked all around the stone and looked from top to bottom but still couldn't find Obito's name. Just as he took a step back bewildered, a sharp pain became present in his left eye. Wincing, Kakashi pushed his headband up and opened his left eye slowly. The sudden pain was slowly ebbing away and as it finally disappeared, Kakashi opened his eye fully. He felt disconcerted. While gazing out of his left eye, he immediately knew something was wrong. For one, things didn't look as clear as they usually were with the sharingan. He could still see better out of this eye than his right but, it wasn't the same.

Quickly Kakashi made the needed signs to shunshin to his apartment. He needed to see what was wrong with his eye and decide if he needed to get it looked at by a medic nin. When he arrived in the middle of his bedroom he rushed towards his bathroom and flung the door open and roughly turned the lights on. He squinted his eyes from the abrupt brightness but opened them fully as he turned towards the mirror.

Kakashi's breath got caught in his throat. His sharingan, the gift Obito had given to him….was gone. The eye looking back at him wasn't his at all! Kakashi's own biological eye was dark in appearance but was naturally grey, a very dark grey. This eye that he had, while not looking any different from his right eye, was almost pitch black.

Kakashi's breathing started to become ragged as he kept blinking and lifting up his eye lid, not believing what he was seeing. After a few minutes he stopped. Something was wrong, and he had to see the Hokage about this. He had a suspicion that the disappearance of Obito's name and his eye were tied together but he didn't know how or why. With a heavy heart, Kakashi left his apartment to see the Hokage.

…

'_Maybe I should come back later…yeah I'll just-No! I came all this way, and I'm not going to back out now! Maybe he'll be asleep….so it'll be okay…' _

The inner thoughts of the one and only Naruto Uzumaki were swirling in a hectic mess. It had been three days since he and his teammates had arrived back in the village safe and sound, and the only reason why they had even survived their ordeal was because at the last minute, Minato had arrived on the scene.

Kakashi never had the chance to attack because he collapsed from chakra exhaustion and fell unconscious. Before gravity could get a tight grip on him, Naruto had caught him before he plunged to his death towards the hard, distant ground. As he held onto the jounin tightly, Naruto, Obito, and Rin watched in amazement and in relief as their sensei dispatched the remaining rock shinobi.

When Minato killed of the last rock nin he attended to his team. He was beyond relieved that they had all survived, despite the massive injuries a couple of them had received. Kakashi's lost eye and Obito's now broken leg worried him and he was going to call off the mission when Naruto had heatedly objected. He had claimed that they were all safe because of Kakashi, because he risked his life to save his teammates and they should complete the mission, because that was what Kakashi would have wanted.

A bit grudgingly, Minato gave into Naruto's demands, but made them all rest up first before they continued on. After a day, Kakashi woke up. Minato had approached him and discussed with him their new plans, but all Kakashi did was nod. He remained silent and never spoke a word to his teammates or sensei. Once everyone was mostly healed and back on their feet they set back out on their mission and successfully completed it. The destruction of the bridge finally ended the war and slowly, peace was again spreading throughout the ninja nations.

Their arrival to the village caused an uproar of cheers and praise from the villagers and their fellow ninja. As joyous as the event was, Naruto did not stick around to celebrate. Instead he went to Minato's apartment to find Kushina. He wanted to see her, to show her that he kept his promise and came back to the village safely.

Naruto's sudden disappearance hadn't bothered Minato much as he carried his two injured students to the hospital. He assumed that Naruto wasn't exactly used to such tribute and left. Minato was aware that Naruto showed slight discomfort when surrounded by large crowds and would often come up with some excuse and disappear for awhile. He wasn't too sure why but he left the boy alone.

For a couple days, Naruto clung to Kushina's side whenever she was around. However, when Minato showed up he sometimes left the two alone, knowing that they would probably want some time to themselves. Other than that he spent a lot of time with his nee-chan. It wasn't till this morning that Kushina had asked if Naruto had been to the hospital yet to visit his teammates.

And he had. Sorta. Naruto went to the hospital to visit Obito and brought his friend ramen, much to the other boy's dismay. He liked ramen, but knew that the second he got out of the hospital, Minato would take them out for it as a celebration at the success of their mission and end of the war. Naruto had just huffed and told Obito that ramen was the best and it would help him get back on his feet in no time.

But that was it. He only went to see Obito, he hadn't seen Kakashi yet. Naruto didn't know why but he felt a little…nervous upon seeing the grey-haired jounin. Nothing could ever describe his shock, yet happiness when he saw that Kakashi had indeed come back to save Rin. He was literally blown away, but when he noticed the condition of Kakashi's left eye, it felt like a bucket of ice water had hit him. The extent that Kakashi went through just to save his teammates had floored him, and he felt proud yet guilty.

It wasn't his fault that Kakashi had lost his eye, but he somehow still felt guilty about it. He especially felt awful upon remembering everything he said to Kakashi. Looking back on that now, he realized how harsh he had been, even if his words had rung true at the moment. So for the past three days, Naruto avoided Kakashi. He didn't know what to say to him.

Once Kushina caught on that Naruto had been avoiding one of his teammates she smacked him upside the head. Whilst in pain and clutching his battered skull, Kushina bestowed her wrath upon the small blonde. She was angry at him, saying that Kakashi was his teammate and that a team was like a family and they always stuck together no matter what! Naruto's behavior was unacceptable and Kushina told him that Rin, Obito, and Minato weren't the only ones on his team and that he couldn't just ignore Kakashi, especially when he was about to go into surgery to replace his damaged eye.

As Kushina continued to rant and rage on, her words crashed down on Naruto and they stung. Not only that, but the worst thing was that Naruto knew Kushina was disappointed in him and that made him feel even worse. He didn't want Kushina to think lowly of him so he dug up all the courage that he had to go and see Kakashi.

So here he was now, standing in front of the door that held Kakashi on the other side. The nurses were very kind and showed him the way to Kakashi's room and left once they brought him there.

Naruto gulped. Why was he so nervous about seeing Kakashi? Part of him was afraid that he still hated him and would tell him to get out while the other part was just unsure. Naruto hated being unsure about the situation, he wasn't exactly used to this kind of thing.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto calmed his nerves. He reached for the doorknob and opened the door and took a cautious step inside. He immediately spotted Kakashi on the other side of the room, laying in bed and gazing out the window. Gently closing the door, Naruto paused for a few seconds before forcing himself to walk towards Kakashi and taking a seat next to his bed.

Kakashi hadn't moved a muscle and didn't show any sign that he was aware of Naruto's presence. After a few minutes of silence and feeling awkward Naruto grunted and coughed into his arm.

"Um…hey Kakashi. H-How are you feeling?"

Kakashi didn't move. He just continued to stare out the window with a blank expression on his face and it made Naruto feel even more self-conscious. Taking another deep breath Naruto decided to just do what he did best. Ramble on about anything and everything. It was what he did when he was nervous and didn't know what to do.

"So uh, did you hear the news? The war has ended thanks to us destroying the Kannabi bridge. Since it was Earth Country's main trading point for resources and supplies they can't continue on with their assault without it."

Still Kakashi didn't react to Naruto, but he didn't give up. He prattled on.

"And um, Obito is doing pretty well too! I just saw him yesterday and gave him-"

'_Shit wait! I shouldn't of said that! If he knows I've been seeing Obito but completely disregarded him he'll hate me forever! If he still does now…' _

Naruto racked his brain desperately for an excuse or a new topic, anything to cover his slip up.

"-well, yeah, he's doing fine I guess. I only saw him because well I was running some…errands! Yeah, and I ran into him while I was here delivering some, well…you know…hospital stuff…"

'_Oh great going you idiot! Surely Kakashi will just buy that lame story. Not! He's probably imagining a way to shut me up for good.' _

As Naruto silently berated himself for his stupidity, he didn't notice Kakashi was now staring at him.

"Anyway! I just came by to wish-"

Naruto stopped short when a dark grey eye clashed with his bright blue ones. His mind went blank as he stared right back at Kakashi, not knowing what to say now. He felt like he was in some sort of trance and the second Kakashi blinked, it broke. Naruto was going to wish Kakashi luck while he went into his eye surgery, but now that thought brought up the argument he had with Kakashi before he left him behind.

He was so hurt and distressed at the time that he didn't give a damn about the jounin. He didn't care what happened to him because Kakashi had certainly made it clear then that he didn't care about them. Despite all that, Kakashi proved Naruto wrong. He did exactly what Naruto never expected him to do, break the rules he practically worshipped so much to save his teammates, and Naruto felt bad for what he had said.

Naruto had been wrong. Kakashi was admirable like his father and right now, Naruto felt like he needed to apologize. To let Kakashi know that, to him, he was a hero, just like his dad was.

"Um, about what I said to you before…when I left on my own to save Rin. I…said some hurtful things and I…"

The words Naruto wanted to say wouldn't come out. They were stuck, lodged somewhere inside his throat. He licked his dry lips and tried again but his throat just clenched painfully, as if holding onto the one thing Naruto needed to say.

"I-I…what I'm trying to say is…"

Naruto sighed. He didn't think saying a couple words could be so hard, and with Kakashi staring at him like that, with no emotions showing in his one visible eye, wasn't helping him in the slightest. Naruto swallowed reflexively, as if trying to clear his throat even though nothing was there. Finally grasping onto his last nerve, Naruto closed his eyes, took a deep breath then opened his mouth.

"I'm so-"

"Gomen."

Naruto's eyes snapped open and stared disbelievingly at Kakashi. Silence hung thickly in the air and Naruto quickly doubted what he just heard. There was no way….no way that Kakashi had…it didn't even look like he did either. It was so hard to tell with 95% of his face covered up.

"W-What did you…" After a few moments passed by when Naruto let his question hang in the air he saw Kakashi shift a bit. He locked his eyes onto the jounin, not wanting to miss any indication of Kakashi speaking.

"Gomen nasai."

His voice was deep and raspy, and Naruto couldn't believe his ears. Naruto's mouth snapped shut once he realized it was hanging open. He wanting to look everywhere else and not at the teen in front of him, but found that he couldn't. He was too stunned to do anything. When Naruto finally came to his senses he laughed nervously and waved his hand in a dismissive manner.

"W-What are you sorry for? You didn't do anything-"

Kakashi cut Naruto off. "Yes I did."

Naruto remained silent, waiting for Kakashi to continue, and he did after a few moments. "Don't apologize for what you said to me before. I deserved every bit of it. I was…wrong. The safety of the team should come as top priority over a mission."

Suddenly feeling a bit embarrassed Naruto tried to cut in. Kakashi never spoke to him like this, let alone admit that he was wrong. Not even Kaka-sensei had ever acted like this. However, Kakashi continued on, not giving Naruto a chance to speak.

"Not only that….but I was wrong about you. I was the one who said some hurtful things to you, making accusations of you that you didn't deserve. I'm sorry."

Third time. That was the third time Naruto heard Kakashi apologize and it was making his brain short-circuit. Suddenly feeling overly shy, Naruto looked away. He never felt this…timid before. He's had small doses of shyness before, but nothing like this. Well actually, he could probably compare this to the time when he first met Kushina, but this topped that time.

Kakashi continued to stare at the blonde before him. He could feel the discomfort coming off of him so he decided not to speak anymore. Not until the genin collected himself and spoke to him first.

For a few minutes, Naruto didn't know what to say. Thank you? It's alright, I forgive you? None of that seemed good enough to say to Kakashi, they just felt…empty. Like they held no real meaning behind it even if Naruto said it. Which it probably wouldn't, Naruto was confused at the moment. He never once thought that Kakashi would be the one to act so contrite. It just wasn't in his nature to.

After a few more minutes, something dawned on Naruto. He felt a bubble of hope blossom inside of him, yet he was afraid to ask. Afraid of what answer he might receive. He glanced to his side at Kakashi and noticed that the jounin's gaze was still fixated on him. Biting his bottom lip, Naruto slightly turned his head towards Kakashi but avoided making eye contact with him.

"Does this mean that….you're acknowledging me as a part of Konoha?"

Without pause, Kakashi answered. "I think you became a part of Konoha the moment you stepped inside the village walls. You've proven your loyalty and I see you as a trusted comrade now."

Naruto flicked his gaze to Kakashi and stared in his eyes looking for any deception within them but found none. Overwhelmed with joy Naruto let out a huge, bright smile and launched himself at Kakashi.

The jounin was taken by surprise when Naruto lunged forward and hugged him awkwardly. It was kind of hard for him since Kakashi was laying on a bed. Even though the jounin felt a bit uncomfortable with his personal bubble being breached, he didn't push Naruto away, but he didn't return the hug.

Naruto didn't care, just the fact that Kakashi let him hug him and didn't lash out at him was enough. He sat back with a feeling of smugness and grinned at Kakashi.

"Since you now accept me as a Konoha shinobi that means you've accepted me as your friend too!"

Kakashi blanched. The idea wasn't unappealing but he never really had friends before, and he some how knew that Naruto was going to be a handful now that Kakashi wasn't shunning him.

"Oh, and that means you think I'm a worthy opponent too doesn't it!" Naruto laughed. "When you get out of here I'm so going to kick your ass when we spar!"

Kakashi snorted. "Don't get so full of yourself. I'm still stronger than you."

"Oh we'll see about that! I've been training my ass off and I've gotten stronger. I will defeat you this time, dattebayo!"

Naruto's cheerfulness started to work it's way into Kakashi's system. Instead of fighting it, he let the blonde's contagious happiness wash over him. For the first time in years, Kakashi felt content. It wasn't the same kind of contentment he felt when he completed a mission successfully. This kind was different and it was much more…satisfying. As Naruto blathered on, Kakashi's eyes softened. Listening to the blonde was amusing, and it lifted his spirits.

For the next half hour Kakashi listened to Naruto go on and on about the mission they just had and how awesome the two of them were when they worked together to take down that rock nin. The blonde's arms flailed about enthusiastically as he tried to mimic some of the moves Kakashi did with his father's short sword and how he wanted to learn how to do that too.

Every so often Kakashi would nod his head or give some verbal indication that he was still listening. On the outside Kakashi appeared bored beyond belief, but on the inside, he was paying rapt attention to Naruto. Watching the excited blonde was very entertaining and Kakashi realized that in no time, the genin had pulled him into his little circle of friends. He had noticed in the beginning that Naruto had this way about him that attracted other people to him. After all this time, Kakashi was finally beginning to see why people liked Naruto so much. He was genuine.

Naruto wore his emotions on his face as clear as day. At first Kakashi believed it was all a ploy, but now he could see that wasn't the case at all. He still suspected Naruto was hiding something, but he had the feeling that whatever it was, Naruto meant no harm towards the village. This trust just came out of no where, it was very small, but it was still there. Kakashi was beginning to understand why Minato had so much faith when it came to Naruto, it was just so easy to.

Kakashi came out of his musing as Naruto started to say how grateful he was that he made it just in time to save Obito. Kakashi knew that if Naruto had not been there, Obito would have died. He didn't know what he would of done if he had. Thinking about that suddenly made Kakashi remembered something. Where had Naruto been that whole time when he and Obito were saving Rin?

"Naruto…"

His voice was soft but Naruto heard him nonetheless. He stopped talking and turned to Kakashi. "Yeah? What is it?"

After a minute of mulling his thoughts over Kakashi spoke up. "Where did you go when you left to find Rin? Obito left right behind you, yet you were no where to be found. We had thought that you too were taken hostage."

Naruto went rigid. He completely forgot about that. "Oh…yeah sorry about that."

Naruto relaxed himself before continuing. "What happened was that I did leave trying to find Rin but…I guess you could say I got tricked by them and landed in a trap."

Feeling a bit nervous with Kakashi _still_ staring at him, Naruto went on. "You see I was trailing the ninja who had kidnapped Rin, but along the way I realized too late that I was following a couple of kage bushin and fell into their trap. Other rock nin appeared and ambushed me."

Kakashi's eyes widened. "How did you escape all by yourself?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head a bit sheepishly. "Uh, well, I used a bunch of shadow clones to distract them and during the confusion I escaped. And I guess I should apologize for this too cause I was the reason all those other rock nin found us. I didn't hide my trail too well."

While Naruto's explanation was believable it only brought up another mystery. "I've been meaning to ask you. Where did you learn the shadow clone jutsu?"

Naruto's face seemed to have frozen in place. The sheepish grin he had was plastered on and Naruto's eyes widened slightly.

'_Fuck my life. I completely forgot that kage bushin was a jutsu I learned in one of Konoha's forbidden scrolls! Well still…it's not like it's a hard jutsu to learn, lots of ninja, even ones outside of the village know it and modify it to suit their own villages.' _

"Well you…," Naruto's smile fell and he looked away. He Didn't want to bring up anything of his time while he was in the past but there wasn't much way to get around it. "My former sensei from the Grass village…well he taught it to me. I don't know where he learned it, but he said that it was probably the perfect jutsu for me since I had such large reserves of chakra."

Kakashi nodded but was slightly surprised. Naruto never before spoke of his former village, let alone the people he knew there. He wondered how a Grass shinobi came to learn the kage bushin. The jutsu wasn't all that rare but still, with a village so small, it was still a mystery. But the biggest mystery was, how could Naruto make so _many_? Large reserves of chakra or not, that was incredible! It was nearly impossible for even an anbu to pull that off. He didn't even think the Hokage could do it.

Kakashi looked away in thought. Part of him still believed in Naruto for no reason, but his rational side was fighting against it. Still, he felt like he owed Naruto a chance.

"Naruto."

Said blonde looked up at Kakashi expectantly, waiting for the jounin to continue. Kakashi turned his head so his eye locked with Naruto's.

"Don't betray my trust."

A little taken aback Naruto pushed his uneasiness off and stared back with a determined look. "I would never do that to a friend."

After that, the two of them sat in compatible silence for a few minutes until Naruto spoke up again. "Well, I should get going. Need to meet up with nee-chan at Ichiraku's soon. I think Minato-sensei will be there too."

Kakashi snorted in amusement. They're endless joy of that fattening bowl of noodles never ceased to amaze him.

Naruto stood up and Kakashi noticed the blonde was a bit nervous again. Did he really make people that uncomfortable? That put the jounin off slightly, but he didn't exactly care really. Not like he could help it.

"So uh…good luck with your eye surgery Kakashi. Hopefully you'll get a really cool looking replacement for your eye or something. Like the color red! That'd be awesome. Ehehehe."

"Thanks. If anything I'd prefer an eye that looked close to my own."

"If you say so. Well I'll come back again after your eye surgery is over!"

Kakashi nodded towards Naruto as he waved back and disappeared behind the door. Once he no longer felt Naruto's chakra within the building, Kakashi sat back feeling at peace and relaxed. Normally he hated sitting around in a hospital and wouldn't allow himself to stay more than two days but this time, he just sat back and enjoyed his time off.

When Naruto left, he felt as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Exactly how it was when Obito came to visit him the other day. The memory made him feel good. He was just as nervous as Naruto was.

"_How's your eye?" Obito sat on a wheel chair next to Kakashi's bed with a troubled look on his face. It was obvious that Obito was blaming himself at the loss of his eye. _

"_It's not hurting much anymore thanks to the medication they gave me. For now it's just a dull ache." _

"_Oh, I see." Obito looked away awkwardly, clearly he wanted to say something to the jounin and Kakashi had a faint idea of what it could be, and that slightly irritated him. _

"_Um…Kakashi? About…before the mission had started. I'm sorry that I didn't get you a gift as congratulations. I guess I was just being stupid and childish then and I still don't have anything for you now so…" Obito trailed off but Kakashi spoke up. _

"_You're wrong. You did in fact give me a more than worthy gift." _

_Obito looked up in confusion. "What?" _

_Kakashi stared at Obito with a soft look in his eye. "You taught me the most valuable lesson of my life. Don't you remember what you told me?" _

_Trying to brush off the shock he was in, Obito nodded. He remembered. Even though in the end when Kakashi had come back to save them, he never expected the jounin to take that as a gift and hold onto it for life. _

"_Yeah…yeah I do." Obito let out a small smile. "I guess I never really hated you. You aggravate me a lot and get on my nerves but…that's how friends are…right?" _

_Kakashi looked back at Obito and saw the hopeful look in his eyes. Deep down, Kakashi had always considered Obito as a friend in some weird way. Obito was his first real friend and…he was glad that he was getting this chance to become real friends with him now. _

"_Yeah. I guess so. At least for us it's that way." _

_Obito's laugh echoed through the room and Kakashi couldn't help but smile. _

Things were changing. It wasn't exactly a physical change but Kakashi could feel it, especially inside of himself. Before he always had a storm of anger, hate, and loneliness raging inside of him but now, he felt calm. Maybe he had reached the tranquil eye of his personal storm. He knew it was still there but it wasn't as intense as he was used too.

"Kakashi-san. The surgery will be taking place momentarily. Do you need anything before you enter the operating room?"

"No, thank you. I'm ready."

As the nurse left his room to quickly grab him a new hospital gown Kakashi had the sudden feeling that a lot of things were going to change for him, and most likely for the good. A new eye was the start of it all, and with his new eye, maybe he'll see a better future.

…

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief as he left the hospital. His visit with Kakashi didn't go as bad as he had thought it would. In fact, he felt elated after seeing him. Kakashi finally accepted him!

After giggling happily to himself, Naruto was brought down from his all time high when he remembered what Kakashi said.

'_Don't betray my trust.' _

That was the last thing he ever wanted to do! However, with all this lying he was doing he did feel like he was betraying them. It wasn't fair to them and he didn't know how much longer he could keep the truth from them. Lies were always found out in the end.

Naruto thought back to his most recent lie, and it was to Kakashi no less. In a way, Naruto hadn't really lied, he more like…didn't give the whole truth. When he took off to find Rin he was tricked into following decoys and landed himself into a trap. However, when he was attacked, he had lost it.

No rational thought had entered his mind and he almost couldn't remember what had happened, it was all hazy. Naruto did know that he was under the Kyuubi's influence. He had been careless. After his dispute with Kakashi, it left him with a whirlwind of negative emotions. And to add fuel to the fire, he had been getting frustrated when he wasn't gaining onto Rin's kidnappers.

So he had blindly charged in without thinking. The Kyuubi gladly took advantage of his vulnerable state. The only clear memory he had was all the dead, mangled bodies littered throughout the area. It terrified him to see the kind of destruction he was capable of, and how he had no control over it! Plus, he had killed more people again. It made him feel sick and like a monster. It was bad enough that he had killed them in cold blood, but he had done it in such a brutal, animalistic way. It was gut wrenching. He was very glad he couldn't recall all the details of what had happened.

He was also lucky that none of his teammates were around to see him like that. Naruto feared that he'd hurt them as well, and if they did manage to survive his attack, then he would have to worry about being prosecuted by Konoha. He'd then either be kicked out of the village, or executed.

Naruto felt the cold fingertips of dread climb up his spine. He shuddered and tried to shake it off. He wasn't going to let it come to that. Konoha was his home, and he loved it here in the past. If they banished him he didn't know what he'd do, he didn't know how to get back to the present, and he didn't even want to go back. And death wasn't something he wanted either. All he wanted was to continue living with his new friends. These people actually cared about him and he wasn't going to let anything destroy what he had strived to attain for as long as he could remember.

With a newfound determination, Naruto vowed to gain better control over the Kyuubi. He loved Minato, Kushina, Rin, Obito, and now even Kakashi. The jounin was now included into his tight circle of precious people, and he wasn't going to loose any of them.

TBC…

***Sighs happily* You darling little buggers lol. So impatient for answers X3 But that's okay, I'm pretty glad people are curious and are getting into the fanfic! Now onto answering some questions everyone has been asking. The most common question is this:**

**1. Since Naruto is not in an alternate universe while in the past, how come Kakashi, the Hokage, or anyone else from the past as well, don't have memories of Naruto from that time? **

**-Okay, well the answer to this will be explained later on, but just to give you guys a little insight I'll just say one thing. Time will tell. (hint hint) You'll see what I mean later on. (yeah, pretty vague I know XD) Just trust me on this. **

**2. Naruto and Kushina both have the Kyuubi residing inside of them, so will Kyuubi sense/recognize his former container, and (I'm just adding this part in) will Naruto find out through Kyuubi? **

**-For now, I'm going to say that Kyuubi is aware of **_**everything**_** that is going on around on the outside. However, he won't say anything to Naruto, and neither will Kushina's Kyuubi. The Kyuubi that is residing inside of Kushina may be confused seeing another bijou container holding his demonic chakra, but he's an intelligent being and probably figured it out rather quickly. **

**Also, throughout the Naruto series, Kyuubi rarely interacts with his containers. The most interaction he ever does is in Shippuden when Naruto is older, so it won't count now. And, Kushina can't sense the 9-tails inside of Naruto because Naruto is not using the Kyuubi's chakra and vice versa for Naruto. **

**3. What was that jutsu used in chapter 1 that sent Naruto into the past? **

**-Sorry, that's confidential information ;p But don't worry, I will come back to that jutsu later on in the fanfic. It wasn't random at all, I've noticed that sometimes (key word sometimes) other authors will send Naruto back in time with some unknown jutsu and never go back into it. So it had no meaning and it was just completely random. Though, I'm still hoping that it will be explained by the end. For my fanfic, I have a pretty good, valid reason behind it all so don't worry. **

**4. Where is Obito? **

**-Of course since Obito is alive that's probably the main concern here cause he hasn't shown up in the present time yet. Well you'll have to wait and find out. **

**And this wasn't really a question, it was more of a concern or opinion I guess lol but just in case the rest of you are wondering the same thing I shall answer this too since I already did for this reviewer. **

**I am changing some pretty major events in Kakashi's past so some of you may also wonder that I'm slowly changing the Kakashi that exists in the present. Also, there will be no "Copy-Cat" ninja and he won't be able to copy a thousand jutsus or whatever. Well, most of this is true **_**but **_**remember what I said in the beginning. I am trying to fit both timelines together. **

**Yes, the previous memories of Obito's death and others that present Kakashi has made will be altered but I won't necessarily be changing Kakashi's overall character. The way I'm trying to make this fanfic work is that even though Naruto is in the past changing things, something else will happen to even out the timeline. **

**Okay I think that's it. If anyone else has anymore questions, please feel free to ask me. I'm a very interactive author and enjoy responding to questions lol ^-^ And also, I want everyone to know that, as you are reading, keep in mind that everything written will all be tied together at the end. I won't leave any holes in the story, and when you ask me questions, it reminds me that I need to go back, revise, and patch up holes I might have accidentally left. So far, I haven't left any to my knowledge lol **

**Like my English teacher always said, an author never writes something useless. Everything leads to another. **

**Okay, Happy Holidays everyone! Consider this another gift from me to you. Have fun, be safe, and enjoy reading! And if you want to give a gift back to me, you can do so by leaving a review! =D **


	7. Chapter 7

**Wow, can't believe we're already getting into chapter 7! I think we're almost half way in with the fanfic. Although I have most of everything planned out, I bet it might go over my estimation anyway and turn out a bit longer. Or shorter, depends how each chapter turns out. I'm pretty excited over how far I've gotten with it (even if to some it may not be too far but it is to me since it's my 1****st****!) and I already have some other plot ideas for other fanfics swimming around in my head =) **

**I'm trying not to give into temptation to start any of them yet. **_**Brotherhood Contract**_** was an exception only cause it was a one-shot. I think I might just do that every now and then, write a one-shot here and there. If I get the inspiration for it that is, but this fanfic will always come first till it is finished!**

**Anyway, thanks for everyone who has reviewed! Your reviews brings me great joy and I love reading everyone one of them *-* Also, I'm sorry for the grammar or spelling mistakes I still make. I know how that can be irritating to see when you're reading and making corrections in your head e.e I do it too lol Sometimes I wonder if I should get a beta reader but then shy away from it only cause I don't want to wait on them to make the corrections, I'm a bit of an impatient person ^-^;; I don't know, we'll see about it lol Okay enjoy chapter 7! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Though, I get the feeling if I did, I'd get a lot of rabid fan girls at my door trying to get rid of me so they'd have him…(just try it bitches =-=) **

~Come on Closer~

The Hokage sat back in his chair in dismay at the report he just received. It was a letter from the captain of the anbu team he had sent out to search for Naruto. He stopped reading it once he reached the point where they still found no leads on him. Sarutobi sat back in his seat and let out a heavy, disheartened sigh.

He didn't want to face the facts, but it looked like Naruto was truly gone. His old heart clenched painfully at the sudden realization and he put one of his wrinkled hands over his face to hide the deep sorrow in his eyes. Not only was he beginning to mourn the loss of his blonde grandson, he was now starting to become stressed out over the consequences this would bring.

'_Losing the village's jinchuuriki will become a serious problem if the neighboring countries discover this. We've been in a time of peace for so long but that can easily be broken…' _

Sarutobi let out another frustrated sigh. Why was peace so hard to maintain? It was baffling how easy a war could be started. Konoha was going to have to take a low profile, but with the Chuunin exams coming up, that would be a bit difficult. The Kazekage would be visiting and their jinchuuriki would most likely partake in the exams as well. They might become a bit suspicious as to why Konoha's demon container would not be present for the exams.

The third Hokage clenched his hand into a fist and brought it down onto his desk, creating a loud bang, and causing some papers to go flying. As the Hokage, he never showed much anger or lost his cool like this in front of his subordinates, but no one was around, and he needed to let out some steam. He may be powerful and wise, but he was still just a human too.

The letter he had been reading fluttered to the ground and Sarutobi almost ignored it and get back to his own work but thought against it. He had to file it away. He got up and picked up the letter and was about to put it into the missions report folder when something caught his eye. He hadn't finished reading it so he scanned it. He paused at the end then glanced over the letter once again to make sure he read it correctly.

The anbu team had not found anything to the whereabouts to Naruto, but they had found something else. Rather, they found a person. Someone who might know how to find Naruto! They were already on their way back to the village and would be arriving in a few short days. Sarutobi clutched the paper when a renewed spark of hope flickered inside his heart. Maybe all was not lost, maybe this person would be the key to finding the lost blonde.

Sarutobi sat back down in his chair and reread the letter, his own work forgotten in the mean time. Kakashi would definitely want to hear this and it would probably lift his spirit's a bit. Especially since he's holed himself up in his house when he discovered he had lost his sharingan. That in itself was a mystery the Third Hokage was going to have investigated, but for now, Naruto came first. He made a hand sign for a summoning and immediately, one of his anbu appeared before him.

"Hokage-sama." The anbu known as Bear bowed respectively to his superior and awaited his orders.

"Greetings Bear. I'd like you to retrieve someone for me. Please go to the Hatake residence and tell Kakashi he is to come here at once."

With another bow the anbu left the Hokage's office in a puff of smoke. Sarutobi leaned back in his chair in deep thought. He had a lot to discuss with Kakashi and hoped that the man wouldn't get sidetracked and show up too late.

* * *

><p>Bored. That was what Kakashi was right now. Bored. He had just woken up from his eye surgery an hour ago and a nurse came in to tell him how it went and what to expect now. His new eye had been implanted with success, but he couldn't use it yet. The nurse also changed the bandages on the left side of his face, telling him that he should be able to take them off for good in a few days and use his new eye.<p>

Until then, the bandages stayed on, and he was stuck in the hospital until he was fully recovered. That had irritated him. He was done sitting around doing nothing, it had been almost a week now. Before he had felt very at peace with himself and enjoyed it when he actually sat back and relaxed. It felt nice, but now he was itching to get out of there. He wasn't physically built to laze around for long periods of time, no matter how good it felt. Eventually he needed to go back into what he was more comfortable with.

And boredom was not something he was comfortable with.

Heck, he didn't even think he had ever been bored in his life before! He was always doing something, whether it was training, missions, or learning new jutsus. There was always something that needed to be done, and the only times he probably did sit back and relax a bit was with his team when they went out to eat.

Heaving a sigh, Kakashi leaned back into his overly comfortable pillow and looked around the room. It was bare and too white that it almost hurt his right eye. As he scanned over the room, his eye landed on the gifts that his team had given him. The kunai knife Minato-sensei gave him, the specialized aid kit Rin gave him, and the…..book Naruto gave him.

Kakashi glared at the book and turned his head away. He would never read such garbage! Even if the blonde gave it to him without knowing what it truly was. Which, now that he thought about it, the gift was a bit endearing in it's own twisted way since Naruto had no idea that it was porn. But that still made him wonder why in the world did he pick _that_ specific book to begin with? He could just imagine the book seller's face when he see's a young boy purchasing a…..how did Naruto buy that book? There was no way he could of gotten away with buying it at his young age…unless he used a transformation jutsu…

Kakashi glanced back at the book again. Maybe it wouldn't be all that bad. If Naruto bought it, then it was possible that it wouldn't be all that graphic. Besides, he shouldn't just throw the book away since it was a gift from Naruto. That would be…mean right? And friends didn't do such mean things to friends….right? He wasn't used to this friendship thing.

While sighing in defeat, Kakashi stretched his arm out and grabbed the book. He looked at it's orange cover and thought that since there was nothing explicit on it, then maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Then again…the things the book contained could be too graphic and damaging for the public eye and only brave souls dared to open it.

With a snort at his own thoughts Kakashi opened the book to a random page. He read a couple sentences hear and there trying to find anything inappropriate. So far so good, in fact, it looked like the book had a decent plot. What with the main character in despair that the woman of his dreams had left him seemed to be a compelling story. And that was just a random paragraph he read. Maybe this wasn't really focused on the porn.

Kakashi flipped and scanned a few more pages, getting small glimpses and insight of what the book was about and was about to turn to the beginning and start actually reading it when a particular page made him stop and search for it again. When he found it he just stared in astonishment as a blush crept up his neck and spread throughout his entire face. Luckily, no one was there to witness the young jounin's cover get completely blown over by one measly picture.

It was a very graphic illustration of a man and woman doing…well in the position they were in Kakashi wondered how in the world a woman could bend like that and still hold a look of unrestrained pleasure as the man held her hands to the side with one of his and plowed downwards into-

Kakashi snapped the book shut when he realized that the two people weren't having regular vaginal sex. Another blush burned Kakashi's covered cheeks and he felt something wet around his nose. After touching it and seeing blood on his hands and came to the sudden realization that he enjoyed what he had just seen.

Part of him was utterly repulsed with what he just saw but another part he never knew he had was whispering at him to pick it up again, to read and see what happens and if they were actually detailed scenes written along with the pictures.

He looked back at the book and despite how appalled he felt, he was undoubtedly curious about it. Kakashi knew what sex consisted of, but had no idea that it could be preformed in _that_ way. He himself was still a virgin and didn't care to ever experience it because he knew the consequences it could lead to. He wasn't someone who would ever just have a one night stand and he wasn't one to commit himself to any relationships.

With that thought, Kakashi wondered what a relationship was like and looked back at the book. Even if it was a porno meant for adults, not him, he was curious. Even if he didn't want a relationship, he could always read about them and satisfy his curiosity, right?

Kakashi picked the book up again and opened it to the first page. He had been bored for awhile, so this should pass the time nicely.

* * *

><p>Konoha was lively and bustling with busy, yet happy people and the jovial atmosphere escalated a certain blonde's spirits than ever before. The one and only Naruto was taking a walk through the village wondering what to do with himself. As he was wandering around Konoha, he became aware of how cheerful the villagers were. Some of them even waved and gave him a friendly smile when he walked by them. Every time that happened he'd feel a bit dumbfounded and shyly wave back, then hurry along.<p>

In his time the villagers always had a scowl on their face when he approached and would sneer at him and toss snide, hurtful remarks his way. Other times they'd throw trash or rocks at him. It was like he was in a parallel universe from his time, a whole different world yet still the same.

And it made a bubble of happiness and excitement run through him. It made him feel giddy to the point where a large smile split across his face, which caused even more people to give friendly greetings to the cute little blonde genin.

The only thing that nagged at the back of his mind was that everyone was so nice to him was because they didn't know. They didn't know what he truly was, what he contained inside his body. With all his might he pushed that thought away because all it would do was make him depressed. It was a good thing Naruto was an optimistic type of person. For now he wasn't going to dwell on the past, or rather his timeline, and just think of what was happening now. The better treatment he was getting now made him happy.

As Naruto continued his way through the village he realized he was heading towards the hospital.

'_Maybe Kakashi can take visitors now since he's out of surgery. Maybe he'll even be discharged today!' _

With a delighted smile, Naruto was about to take to the roofs to get to the hospital fast when he heard a screech penetrate through the air. It completely startled him and he fell face first into the dirt while he was in mid jump. Some of the passing villagers stopped as well and looked around in shock and fright.

Naruto picked himself up and looked towards the source of the shrill shriek. It lead him to t he village's bath house and as he approached it, another scream ripped through the air, although this time, the scream sounded as if it was filled with rage. Suddenly, various objects were being thrown everywhere and a big burly man with long white hair came scrambling out.

Naruto was too shocked to move out of the way as a hoard of half naked women came charging out, chasing after the man that had most likely been peeping. The huge old geezer ran by Naruto and with a scream of his own, Naruto took off too because he was directly in the path of these raging women!

After a few frantic seconds of running, Naruto looked back and with horror, realized that these women were about to trample over him! Quickly he spotted an alleyway and dived into it as all the crazed females ran by, all screeching and shouting vows of painful deaths to someone.

Naruto gave a sigh of relief as the ground finally stopped trembling from their stampede. "Damn, that was close."

"I'll say, they nearly had me! Such feisty women Konoha has."

Naruto snapped his head up to the source of the voice and gawked when he saw the old man. Angrily, Naruto pointed at him accusingly and shouted. "You pervert! That's what you get for peeping, and some people could of gotten seriously hurt during their stampede!"

With an annoyed grunt the man stood up from his little hiding spot. "Hey I am not pervert kid!" The man brushed himself off and then gave two thumbs up to Naruto. "I'm a super pervert!"

A big sweat dropped formed at the back of Naruto's head and he could just feel a violent tick in his eyebrow starting. "That's not something to be proud of old man."

The man huffed while looking offended. "I'm not old! I'll have you know I'm quite agile for my age."

"As if…"

"Why you…fine you little brat! I'll let you in on something."

Suddenly the man took on some ridiculous stance and hopped to the side on one foot. "I am the great Jiraiya! One of the legendary sanin and the all powerful toad sage! Men cower before me and women blush in my presence! Ahahaha!"

Naruto didn't think it was possibly, but the tick in his eyebrow seemed to increase ten fold. This guy wasn't just a pervert, he was an idiot too.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm sure you are Ero-sannin."

"You brat! Don't call me that, call me Jiraiya-sama. I am your superior and you should call me-hey don't you walk away from me kid!"

Naruto ignored the gloating geezer. The hentai was annoying and he almost forgot that he was going to go see Kakashi. He hoped that if Kakashi was released today, then Minato would take them all out for some ramen. Naruto almost drooled at the thought of ramen.

"You shouldn't drool at the thought of women kid. You're way too young for that, though I know how appealing it is."

"Gah!" Startled, Naruto jumped away and clutched at his shirt near his heart. Only really high ranked ninja could sneak up on someone like him, what with his heightened senses. Then Jiraiya's statement registered and Naruto's head and he bristled.

"Like hell I would do that! I'm not a pervert like you!"

Jiraiya gave a howl of laughter while he smacked Naruto in the back repeatedly, almost knocking the poor blonde off his feet. "You don't have to deny it kid. A super pervert like me can certainly spot one of his own kind."

"I AM NOT LIKE YOU!" Naruto knew his face was flushed red with anger and frustration but goddammit, this guy was unbearable!

"Denial is always the first step. When you get older and hit puberty you'll know what I mean. How old are you brat?"

"Stop calling me brat! My name's Naruto! And I'm twelve."

"Twelve? Ohoho you must be a late bloomer then! I was already wooing hot dames when I was your age brat!"

"Shut up! I've hit puberty!" This time Naruto flushed in embarrassment. He was fully aware that he was maturing at a much slower rate than his peers. Proof in that was his still awkwardly scratchy voice that hadn't deepened yet, and his short height. He's been standing at four pitiful feet and nine stupid inches for awhile now and hadn't grown an inch since he can remember. Not only that, but he only weighed about eighty-nine pounds. So he was very small for his age, and he hated it when people pointed that out to him.

"Really? Let's test that then." Jiraiya looked around searching for something and when he did his eyes lit up with perverted glee and crouched next to Naruto. He threw a bulky arm over the reluctant blonde's shoulders and pointed to a particular busty looking woman.

"See that woman over there. How big would you say her cup size is?"

Naruto stared at the woman in confusion then back up at Jiraiya. "Cup size? What the hell are you talking about? She's not holding any cup."

Jiraiya gawked at the blonde. This kid was so naïve! "Of course I'm not talking about a cup for her to hold! I mean the size of her breasts!"

Naruto's face and ears turned bright red as he glared at the toad hermit angrily. "How would you expect me to know that?"

Jiraiya huffed. "Boy's your age should know stuff like this. At a glance you should have been able to tell that woman was a D cup. Any male adolescent would be able to tell." Again, the toad sage laughed at the poor blonde's expense.

Naruto could feel his cheeks burning. From humiliation or anger, he wasn't sure, but he still felt a bit ashamed that he didn't even know something like this that any boy his age was already aware of. It made him feel like he was behind on the get go of everything, and he hated being left behind! Suddenly a thought dawned on him and he smirked.

"Oh yeah? Well, I bet a lot of guys my age don't know how to do this."

Naruto made a small hand sign with a mischievous grin on his face. "Henge!"

Jiraiya's laugh was cut short as a puff a smoke filled his vision. When the smoke cleared he felt his jaw drop and eyes bulge because standing stark naked was this hot, curvaceous blonde woman who was batting her eyelashes flirtatiously at him.

"Ooo how's this Jiraiya-sama?" While he was flirting it up on the outside, Naruto was a laughing mess on the inside. The pervert's face was priceless! His sexy jutsu never failed to bring out the best results! He could practically see the steam coming off the geezer's heated face and…wait was that blood? He was used to making older men have blood gush out their noses but this….it was flowing out like a waterfall! And it was creeping him out a bit…

"Ano…please don't stare at me so intently like that. You're making me blush." _'You're making me sick that's what you're doing you perverted freak!'_

In the blink of an eye Jiraiya disappeared and before Naruto's brain could register that fact his body tensed when he felt his shoulders being massaged. He peered behind him and on the inside he freaked out to see Jiraiya leering at him!

"Don't be so coy sweetie. I can satisfy all your needs." A disturbing giggle escaped Jiraiya's mouth right next to Naruto's ear.

'_What the hell? Needs?' _Naruto didn't know what he meant by needs but he definitely didn't want to find out!

All of a sudden, he felt the toad hermit stopped massaging his shoulders and travel his hands lower towards his female body's breasts. Naruto went rigid until anger shot through him.

"YOU PERVERT!"

Before they could reach their destination Naruto whirled around and gave a hard, jaw cracking punch right under the perverts chin and sent him flying. The jutsu cancelled out and in a puff of a smoke, a red faced and raging _male_ Naruto stepped forth. His sexy jutsu never gave him those kind of results before! Usually men would faint from blood loss and he'd get a kick out of it. But that…that was unbelievable and Naruto felt queasy at the thought of it.

Before Jiraiya could get up Naruto took off. He wanted to get as far away as possible and he was going to forget this little incident ever happened. Naruto shuddered, he hoped that he would never encounter the toad sage ever again. No wonder those women became so violent…

As Naruto hopped from roof to roof, he remembered what he was going to do from the start. _'Kakashi! I forgot all about him.' _

With a happy smile Naruto went straight to the hospital and asked if Kakashi was alright after the surgery and if he could see him. The nurse at the front desk smiled happily at Naruto and told him that Kakashi was just fine and he could go see Kakashi for a little bit. She told him where to go to find the new room they had put Kakashi into and Naruto thanked the nurse.

While walking down the hall Naruto got an idea. When Kakashi was alone, did he take off his mask. A sly smirk found it's way onto Naruto's face and he snickered slightly. If he was stealthy enough, maybe he would finally be able to see what was behind Kakashi's mask!

Kakashi's room was going to come up just around the corner. Quickly, Naruto masked his chakra signature and stalked forward until he was right besides his door. Gently he grabbed the doorknob and turned it, trying not to make it click. When it didn't, he pushed it open slightly so there was only a crack.

Naruto peered inside the room and immediately found Kakashi sitting on the other side of the room laying in bed. He squinted his eyes a bit, trying to see if Kakashi was wearing his mask or not.

'_What is he doing…I can't tell.' _Naruto pressed his face against the doorframe, trying in vain to get a better look at the jounin but couldn't. Slightly annoyed, he dared to open the door a bit further but caused it to creek by accident.

Instantly a kunai was imbedded right next to his face on the doorframe and he flung himself backwards in a yelp.

"Naruto…?"

Naruto pouted at being caught and got up. He walked into Kakashi's room and gave a sheepish smile when he noticed that Kakashi was glaring at him.

"Ehehehe, what's up?"

Kakashi ignored Naruto's question and instead asked his own. "What were you doing?"

"Me? Oh, nothing! Nothing at all! I just came by to see how you were doing and such." Naruto laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head. It was a nervous habit of his that he just couldn't seem to break since everyone he knew saw right through it.

Kakashi snorted. "Nothing you say? Then why were you masking your chakra and peeking inside the room instead of just walking in?"

"Uhhh…" Naruto was at a bit of a lost. What was he suppose to say? Instead of really answering he started to fidget nervously.

Suddenly a thought occurred to him. He and Kakashi just became friends and he was sure that the jounin wasn't really used to this sort of thing. He already knew that the guy had some trust issues, so what if he just blew that all away with his stupid desire to see what was behind his mask? Kakashi didn't know what his intentions were and Naruto was a little bit embarrassed to voice them…

Watching the blonde sweat from fear was always entertaining. He wasn't even mad at him, no just surprised. He'd be a hypocrite if he got mad about being sneaked up on since he had stalked the poor blonde for weeks on end. He smirked when Naruto started to look at everything else in the room besides him. He had an idea of why the genin was sneaking around.

"You were trying to see my face weren't you."

Amusement trickled through his system when he saw the blush. He was right. Obito usually tried to find out what was behind his mask at least once a month so he wasn't all that surprised that now Naruto was trying to see too.

"No I wasn't! I 'd never I-"

"It's alright."

Naruto was a little shocked to hear that and looked over at Kakashi. As soon as he looked at him he could tell that the jounin was laughing at him on the inside just by looking at his eyes. They contained mirth but Naruto couldn't get annoyed by that, instead he felt happy and smiled a bit.

"Ne, ne! Does that mean you'll let me see?" Naruto was bouncing on the heels of his feet in excitement.

"No." That infuriating bored look came back into Kakashi's eye as he stared at the dumbfounded blonde.

"Wha-NO? Why not!"

"Because I said so." Kakashi drawled.

"Oh come on! Just a peek. I swear I won't tell anyone!" Naruto leaned over so his face was inches away from Kakashi's. He was so close, maybe if he was fast enough he could swipe the material down and catch a glimpse.

While Naruto was leaning even closer and plotting how to get rid of the jounin's mask, Kakashi was stark still. No one has ever invaded his personal bubble like this except in sparring matches or on the battle field and it was always over within an instant. But Naruto was just lingering there, trying his hardest to be inconspicuous so he could rip that mask away. And it wasn't just only that.

Naruto's eyes were so blue. Now that he could see them closely, he noticed that Naruto's eyes had different shades of blue in them, creating this depth to them that seemed to almost hypnotize him.

The blonde was so close that Kakashi could also feel the warm puffs of breaths that came out of his mouth and it suddenly made his face heat up.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Naruto's hand lift up, and it was aiming for the edge of his mask. Without even thinking, Kakashi grabbed Naruto's arm and slammed him back. A sharp yelp escaped the blonde's mouth and before he knew it, Kakashi was staring down at Naruto, a bewildered look in those blue orbs.

"S-Sorry Kakashi. I didn't mean to…" Naruto wasn't sure of what he had meant or not. He just wanted to see what was behind the mask, but all that was forgotten when Kakashi pushed him back onto the bed and was now practically straddling him!

However, his voice seemed to snap out of whatever daze the jounin was in. Surprise filtered into his grey eye and he immediately let go of Naruto's arms and sat back up. After sitting up, he realized he was actually on top of the blonde and, with little grace, he got off him and back pedaled till his back hit the bed frame.

His heart was racing and he knew his face was red but it was a good thing two thirds of his face was covered anyway. That position he was just in with Naruto, it instantly made him think of all the positions he saw in Icha Icha, which made his face heat up even more. But as Naruto was beginning to sit up, Kakashi calmed himself down and relaxed. He didn't want Naruto asking him any questions.

When Naruto sat back up, he looked over at Kakashi and noticed he was staring at him with a dull look in his eye. It really unnerved when the jounin stared at him so intently and he couldn't tell what the other was thinking. Maybe he shouldn't of gotten all up in his face. He probably really crossed that delicate line of Kakashi's privacy. Naruto felt bad but he couldn't help it. Whenever something excited him, he completely forgot about personal boundaries.

It felt awkward now. At least to Naruto it did. It was way too quiet and Naruto hated silence but he didn't know what to say. He looked around everywhere, trying to see what he could do, or talk about when his eyes landed on a book.

'_Isn't that the book I gave Kakashi as a gift?'_

"Hey Kakashi. Is that the book I gave you?" He reached over to pick it up when it was swiped right from under his hand. Surprised, he looked up and saw that Kakashi was putting it under his pillow, away from his reach. Naruto's eyes widened slightly. Kakashi looked a bit…nervous.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Kakashi looked away from Naruto's questioning eyes. When the genin was about to pick up the book another rush of heat went through him and he panicked a bit. He was sure Naruto had no idea what the book actually was and didn't want him to know. He glanced back over at Naruto and saw a thoughtful expression on his face.

"That was the book I gave you!" A bright smile appeared on Naruto's face and Kakashi felt a little anxious as to what he knew was going to come next.

"Were you reading it?" Naruto leaned forward just a bit on his hands and knees. Forgetting once again about personal space.

Kakashi leaned back a bit to regain some space between them but it was futile. There was only so much of the bed, and unfortunately, Kakashi was already against the headboard.

"Yes. I was."

The second Kakashi admitted that he was, Naruto's eyes sparkled. It was interesting how is eyes could light up and go from one shade of blue to a much brighter shade.

"Really? You really are?"

A slight nod was all Naruto got but that was enough. He jumped off the bed with a cheer and laughed happily, going on about something that his plan was working or whatever. It confused Kakashi a little, but it made him happy to see the blonde so energetic and happy about something. All of that was quickly wiped away and replaced with dread.

"So do you like it? What's it about?"

Kakashi stared at Naruto at a loss of words. He only read about a third of the book so far, but it was incredibly graphic. Around chapter three, the main characters were already having sex in various places and even though Kakashi felt a bit ashamed for reading it, he just couldn't put the book down! It annoyed him to no end but it was so appealing. Even now, his hands were itching to just grab and to continue reading it!

But there was no way he'd ever tell anyone, let alone Naruto, what exactly went on in the book. Upon recently discovering that he was, sadly, a closet pervert, he would lie about it even after he was dead. In fact, he'd probably take the book with him to his grave, but he wouldn't tell the blonde that. Never. He had some pride left.

"Well…I haven't finished it yet so…"

"Ne, ne! Do you think I could read it when you're done?"

"What?" Kakashi sweat dropped at the stupidly innocent blonde sitting in front of him.

"I'm not really big on reading, but I do like to every now and then. Mostly scrolls on jutsus but I have read some good books before. And this one looks interesting too! So when you're done with it do you mind me borrowing it?"

It took a lot of Kakashi's willpower to not blush. As Naruto kept talking about reading the book, erotic images flooded his mind. He could feel a nosebleed coming on but held it back.

"I don't think that…you'd really like the book Naruto."

Naruto tilted his head to the side in confusion. "Eh? Why not?"

Those blue eye's of his were so distracting, especially when Kakashi could read _every single_ emotion that went through them.

"I just don't think it's your type of book." Kakashi desperately hoped that the blonde would just leave it at that, but alas, of course the idiot wouldn't.

Naruto huffed. "How would you know something like that? You don't know the kind of stuff I read!"

Kakashi watched Naruto warily as the blonde got up off the bed.

"The book can't be all that bad! Besides, it's orange! It's gotta be good if it's got such a great color!"

Kakashi felt his eye twitch slightly as he stared at Naruto with a 'are you serious' kind of look. Maybe _that_ was why Naruto got him Icha Icha Paradise. Because it was orange! He should of known. It was so typical, yet unpredictable at the same time! Kakashi felt a headache coming.

A knock on the door was heard and then the head of one of the assistant nurses peeked into the room.

"I'm sorry to interrupt but Kakashi needs to take some medicine and then rest for a little while. You can come back tomorrow and visit him though."

Naruto pouted but complied. "Bye Kakashi! I'll come see you tomorrow 'kay? Oh! I should bring some ramen with me too!"

With a couple of waves goodbye and promises of ramen, which Kakashi hoped the blonde didn't bring tomorrow, Naruto left. He let out a sigh, already feeling a bit exhausted from the visit. But he was happy. Out of everyone, he probably enjoyed Naruto's visits the most. Maybe because he never knew what would happen with the genin's rash and impulsive nature. It made things interesting.

The nurse started to take out his medication for him and after taking it, he started to feel drowsy. He hated the side effects of medicine but knew it was mandatory that he took it. His last thought was of the blonde genin before he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Awww we're finally getting into the KakaNaru fluff! X3 Don't you just love romantic fluff? It gives me that warm fuzzy feeling inside and I tell you I'm addicted to it lol! There will be more to come! Mwahahaha! I have a lot planned for these two *smirks evilly* **

**Also, I'm so sorry it took me so long to update! I've been a busy little bee lately and I kind of got caught up in a game e.o It's soooo much fun! And no it isn't skyrim (though I've watched my boyfriend play it and it's SO beautiful and looks like so much fun :x I WANT IT! DX) I've been playing Dragon Nest ^-^ It really just gets you all wrapped up in it and sometimes I can play for hours without even realizing it. Bad habit…I know. Trying to take a break from it eh heh ^-^;; **

**But anyway, hope you all enjoyed chapter 7! 8D Please leave your thoughts and comments in a review, you know I love them hehehe X) **


	8. Chapter 8

**Wooo! Chapter 8 is now here! And **_**C.O.C**_** now has over 13,000 hits *-* Thank you so much everyone X3 And a special thanks to everyone who has reviewed my fanfic too! Especially to the regulars who never fail to leave a nice comment for me. I love you!^-^ You make writing all the more fun. **

**And I just discovered how to correct my mistakes in past chapters. Before I would click edit next to the chapter and fix my mistakes but noticed it would never change when I'd go back and look at it. It irritated me, but I figured out that I can always replace the chapter! =D So when I have the time, I will go back and try to fix all my little spelling and grammar errors. Even when I reread the chapter before posting, there's **_**always **_**some stupid mistake I make and I literally smack myself in the head saying "Wth! How did I miss that?" **

**I should make my biffle read over my chapters and correct stuff for me….it's too bad that she hates yaoi though. And yet she loves Black Butler…( I swear, the creator is being inconspicuous about the yaoi going on between Ciel and Sebastian. It's there I tell you!) But she wont believe me, she always has some excuse for it…oh well lol Okay enjoy chapter 8! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. 'Nough said. **

**~Come on Closer~**

"What do you mean we're not going out for ramen? It's the best food in the entire world!"

"I already told you, it's Obito's and Kakashi's decision to pick where we eat since this is for them getting out of the hospital fully recovered."

Naruto huffed and turned his head away from Minato and glared at his two teammates. _'Those traitors. How dare they pick some stupid BBQ restaurant over Ichiraku!' _

As Naruto continued his childish glaring, Kakashi and Obito inwardly smirked. They had both agreed that they were tired of eating ramen all the time and decided to conspire against Minato. Their sensei had fully intended on bringing them to Ichiraku but then Kakashi spoke up saying that since the 'get together' was suppose to celebrate their recovery, then he and Obito should get to pick where they go out to eat.

It was quite amusing to see Minato's face go pale. The man was fine with eating out somewhere different, he was just afraid to face Kushina's displeasure and now, most likely, Naruto's outrage. Kushina was in fact upset and was about to pummel him when Minato explained that it wasn't his idea. She wanted to go hunt down those two brats but decided against it since they did _just_ get out of the hospital. Naruto, however, was a different story.

It probably wasn't normal but Kakashi really enjoyed most of the blonde's anger and irritation directed at him. It was highly amusing. Especially how his eyes narrowed until they only became slits. If Naruto thought it made him look intimidating he was sadly mistaken.

The group finally made it to the restaurant and by then Naruto's annoyance had sizzled down a bit. Despite him showing ill contempt towards his two friends, he was actually excited deep down. He rarely had the chance to eat out at other restaurants. Back in his time, he never had the chance to do this unless he was with team 7. Even then, he still got some withering or disdainful looks from the people around him. His team never noticed that of course.

One time he remember when a waitress was walking by, she had 'accidentally' tripped and spilt a beverage all over him. She never said sorry to him, just picked up the fallen tray and excused herself. Kaka-sensei told him to try and clean up in the bathrooms and as he got up to do so, he could of sworn he saw a very furious look from the jounin directed at that woman. He never thought much about it cause it was only a fleeting look. But Naruto did wish that it was because his old sensei cared about him, if only a little.

However, as much as he loved his ramen and Ichiraku's, this was a really nice and welcomed treat. And for the first time, he could enjoy it in peace and actually get food that was fresh, and not old and on the point of expiring.

They all sat down at a rather medium sized booth near the window. Naruto in the middle of Kushina and Kakashi and Obito and Rin in front of him. Minato sat on the other side of Kushina.

While Naruto looked through the menu, everyone else noticed his bubbling excitement.

Minato and Kushina smiled softly and looked to their own menus. Obito and Rin just shrugged off his excitement for it being Naruto's fist time at a restaurant in Konoha besides Ichiraku. And Kakashi was slightly bemused.

Sure he could probably brush off his unusual enthusiasm for it being his first time at a big restaurant in the village, but he knew there was probably more to it. Which he would discern about sooner or later. For now though, he was content on seeing the genin so happy. Every so often he'd glance over at Naruto and watch him read every description of the food the place had to serve. It was obvious that the blonde couldn't decide on what he wanted.

"Has everyone decided what they'd like to order?"

The group of six all looked up at their waitress and nodded. All except Naruto. They placed their orders while the little blonde still thought over what he wanted. Just as the waitress was about to leave he called out but was smacked in the back of the head roughly.

"ITAI! Who the hell-"

"AHAHA! So we meet again brat!"

"Jiraiya-sensei…" Minato looked disapprovingly up at his old sensei when he hit Naruto.

Jiraiya ignored his ex-student's pointed look and sat down at their table. "Minato, when you said that you had a new student on your team I would of never guessed that you had this brat!"

"Well I can't believe that a pervy sage like you would be his _sensei_!" Naruto rubbed his sore head while glaring at the man. He couldn't believe his luck that he had run into this asshole again. Let alone him being Minato-sensei's _mentor_. What are the odds?

"Wait, wait. You two have met?" Kushina looked between the two.

Naruto glared again at the toad sage, "Unfortunately…"

"I found the brat peeping on some woman bathing at the onsen a few days ago-"

"USO! That did _not_ happen pervy sage! You were the one peeping and caused an uproar among the women! I almost got trampled because of you!"

"The boy lies. He's just starting in that awkward age of puberty, he's in denial."

At that Naruto's face went red. He was about to shout something back, if it weren't for Minato to butt in.

"Sensei…how many times have I told you to stop your…inappropriate habits. It'll only cause chaos among the female population." He glanced at Naruto and saw the poor genin's face cherry red from embarrassment. "And don't tease Naruto on such things."

Minato was about to give a couple of comforting words to the young blonde when a peculiar sight caught his attention. Kakashi was _glaring_ at Jiraiya with his good eye, the other still bandaged. The young jounin's gaze looked so livid as it bore holes into the toad sage's head. It really puzzled him. Kakashi never showed such emotion before out of no where like this, especially to someone far superior to him.

Suddenly, Kakashi looked away from Jiraiya, and turned his gaze out the window. Minato had always found him to be quite a mystery at times but always managed to figure out the boy somehow. The last thing that caught Minato's attention, was how close Kakashi was to Naruto. The blonde either didn't mind, or didn't even notice. He somehow suspected it was the ladder, but it was still odd how his whole frame was leaning towards the genin.

'_Maybe I'm over analyzing this…' _

Still, Minato stored this away in his mind for him to think about it later. Even if he was thinking a bit too much into it, he still couldn't deny that Kakashi's behavior was odd.

The rest of the evening went by pretty smoothly. It was a pleasure to see everyone in such high spirits, laughing and joking around and telling stories. Not to mention Naruto's overflowing happiness. Minato could tell that just by being around people that accepted him was more than enough to make the small blonde happy. It really warmed his heart, especially with the news he couldn't wait to tell Naruto later.

Minato's gaze softened as he watched Naruto out of the corner of his eye. The little blonde was arguing about something or other with Jiraiya, and despite his yelling and angry outbursts, Naruto couldn't of looked happier with the attention. This jovial scene would have been picture perfect, if it weren't for one grey-haired shinobi.

Outwardly, Kakashi seemed to be his normal, dull self. Not a flicker of emotion was shown on his face, and he didn't engage in much conversation. However, he never moved out of Naruto's personal space. He didn't know why but that seemed to bother him a little. He was aware that the two had finally come to terms with each other and become something like friends, but Kakashi's behavior was a little unnerving.

Minato's thoughts were disrupted when he felt a nudge at his side. He turned his attention towards the source and saw Kushina's smiling face. He smiled back and took her hand in his and gave it a loving squeeze. Everyone had finished their meals and they were only waiting on the bill. It was time.

He cleared his throat to grab everyone's attention. "I wanted to say that I couldn't of been more proud of the team I have, and I'm relieved and overjoyed to see you two," he nodded towards Obito and Kakashi and smiled fondly at them, "back on your feet. Tonight was a celebration for your recovery, but I also wanted to announce something to all of you."

Naruto, Obito, Rin, and even Kakashi looked up at their sensei with curiosity burning in their eyes. Jiraiya was the only one to sit back with a knowing smile on his face. He knew what was coming.

Minato took his eyes off his students and turned them to his beloved. "Kushina and I are engaged to be married."

A delighted gasp was heard from Rin as Obito and Naruto stared at them a little stunned. Kakashi grunted a congratulations and that was what seemed to knock the two genin out of their trance.

Naruto swung his arms around Kushina and gave her a big, tight hug. "Wow, that's so amazing! I never knew anyone that was getting married before! Dattebayo!"

Kushina laughed and hugged the blonde back while Obito came around the table and hugged her too, congratulating her and his sensei.

"Ano sa…when are you guys going to have your wedding?" Even if it was a bit soon to be asking that, Naruto couldn't help but ask anyway.

Kushina blushed a shade of red that seemed to match her hair. "We were…well planning on having it towards the end of spring. There's still so much to do in such a short amount of time though."

Naruto's eyes widened a bit. That was only a couple months away. He always thought weddings took months to prepare for. "Isn't that really soon?"

"Well yes, but you see…Kushina and I have actually been engaged for awhile. And have already been planning the wedding for a few months. We didn't say anything because we were in the middle of the war and it wasn't an appropriate time to announce this. The war ending so soon has worked in our favor. We were about to set it off to an even later date."

Excitement buzzed among them as Kushina chatted excitedly with the three genin. Rin would giggle and occasionally look in Kakashi's direction, which didn't go unnoticed by the jounin, or Obito.

The young Uchiha sighed and put up a smile despite what he was really feeling. He still hoped that one day Rin would look at him the same way she did at Kakashi. Out of no where a pain exploded in his leg and he cried out in pain. He tried to reach down to clutch his knee and accidentally smashed his head into the table. He looked up and saw everyone staring at him.

"Obito…are you alright?" Rin leaned over and placed her hand on Obito's shoulder gently, which caused a flush to spread up from his neck to his face.

"Hai, I'm fine." He rubbed his knee and tried to look everywhere but at Rin, and his eyes landed on Naruto.

He instantly bristled at that irritating, mischievous smirk on the blonde's face. Well, now he knew who kicked him…and it really didn't surprise him. He was so getting back at him….

"Alright guys. I think it's time we all headed home." Minato got up from his seat as did everyone else.

"Ah Minato-kun. I need to speak with you about some things. Meet me outside when you're all done here." Jiraiya got up to walk out, but along his way he ruffled Naruto's hair roughly, earning him the little finger.

"Naruto! Don't you ever lift the middle finger at a superior!" Kushina grabbed Naruto into a choke hold and strangled him a little. "Even if the bastard does deserve it…."

"Ack..g-gomen!"

Minato chuckled at the scene. Without really thinking, he turned his gaze over to Kakashi to see his reaction, but it wasn't like it was before. He wasn't glaring at Kushina or Jiraiya like he thought he would. Minato couldn't really describe it, but it just looked like Kakashi was keeping a watchful eye over Naruto.

'_Hmmm, maybe after that mission he became a bit protective of Naruto.' _

If that was the case, then Minato was glad that Kakashi was finally starting to form deep bonds with people. He walked over to Kushina and kissed her on the cheek and told her that he'd meet her at home.

Once outside Minato spotted his old sensei…leering at some passing women. He grimaced a bit in disgust after he heard a perverted giggle come from the grown man.

"What have I told you about your inappropriate tendencies?"

After the women turned around a corner and were out of sight, Jiraiya turned to his formal pupil with a grin. "What can I say? I'm still young at heart and yearn for the warm, supple body of a woman."

Minato shook his head. "You know sensei, I always thought you would one day settle down with Tsunade-sama-"

"That crazy old bat? With me? Never! Though she does have the finest set of jugs I've ever seen."

The jounin rolled his eyes skyward. As much as Jiraiya or Tsunade claim that they would never be together, it was really hard to see them with anyone else at all. They really just seemed to fit together perfectly.

"Congratulations again by the way. It's odd seeing my last student all grown up, and now getting married. I guess kids will be next eh?"

Minato's eyes widened a bit and he coughed into his hand. "Children of our own? That's thinking a bit far ahead don't you think sensei?" Minato laughed a bit nervously.

Jiraiya chuckled and a look of nostalgia engulfed his face. "You know he looks just like you when you were younger."

"Ah Naruto? A lot of people have been saying that lately."

Jiraiya gave Minato a once over. "Well I'm not surprised. You two could be related. What village did you say he came from again?"

"The Hidden Grass village."

The toad sage hummed in thought. "Ever since you told me the whole story concerning that brat, I've been a wondering if he may be a spy-"

"Naruto isn't a spy! He's been here long enough to do harm to the village, and he's proven himself more than anyone ever could that he can be trusted. I told you everything that happened on our last mission and what he's done for Konoha!" Minato gave Jiraiya a cold look, daring him to accuse Naruto of anything else. Naruto was apart of Konoha now, he was a leaf shinobi, and Minato would standby him no matter what because he knew Naruto was genuine.

"You really care for the brat don't you?"

Minato heaved a sigh. "Yeah…a lot."

"Kushina too. I've noticed she's grown very attached to him in such a short amount of time."

The jounin smiled. "She has. In fact, everyone Naruto meets becomes attached to him. He somehow even broke through Kakashi's barrier."

Suddenly Jiraiya let out a barking laugh. "Kakashi eh? Isn't he the one with the mask? That brat never stopped glaring at me throughout the whole meal!"

Minato sputtered. "Through the _entire_ meal?" Maybe he wasn't as observant as he thought. Or maybe he was too preoccupied with everything else going on that he pushed Kakashi to the back of his mind.

"Aa. Very sharp one he is. He was aware I was coming up from behind and never took any interest in me! That is until I gave a good whopping against the back of the blonde's head sitting next to him."

Jiraiya slowly calmed down his burst of laughter and grinned over at Minato. "He was very discreet about it though. Only throwing me hateful looks every now and again, but he definetly made sure _I_ knew that he was trying to stare me down. So much so that I couldn't help but tease Naruto more just to see what reactions I'd get."

"That's why you never left him alone? You just had to pick on him over something so petty?" Minato gave Jiraiya a deadpanned face.

"Oh come now, you mean you didn't notice his odd behavior? It was incredibly entertaining!"

"…I did notice it…but only once from the beginning and just brushed it off, thinking he was just being a bit protective." Minato scratched the back of his head in thought. This was some surprising news. Kakashi must care about Naruto a lot to be _that_ overly protective.

"Protective? You got it all wrong! He may have been defending the brat but he was being downright possessive!"

'_And I thought I was over analyzing it…'_ "So he was glaring at you. That doesn't mean he was being possessive. He and Naruto just became good friends a couple days ago. I think he was just peeved at you."

Jiraiya shook his head and made a _tsking_ noise. "Minato, you of all people should know what it feels like. I've seen you bite back your own possessiveness when other men fawn over Kushina."

Minato cheeks reddened a little bit. "It was only a tad bit of jealously!"

"Take it from a ladies man my former pupil! Not only do I know how to please the ladies, but I can also spot a possessive and jealous man when I see one." Jiraiya clapped Minato on the back a couple times while he laughed.

After the beating his shoulder and back were receiving ended a thought crossed Minato. "Are you trying to say that…Kakashi may like Naruto more than a friend should?"

"Of course."

Minato gawked at his sensei. How could he say that with such a straight face? It was such a…well unthinkable idea! Kakashi didn't like anyone in that sense. Not even Rin who has been pinning for his affections for years!

"That's impossible! I think your old age is finally catching up to you."

Jiraiya scowled at that. "Well if you're going to go there, then I can say that I've become a lot wiser over the years. How else do you think I was able to write Icha Icha Paradise? Because I know everything there is to know about falling in love with someone."

"I thought that book was nothing but porn…"

"Ahaha! There is, there is! But I like to have a decent plot to it as well! That's what makes it more interesting. And boy are your two little students interesting."

Minato still wasn't very convinced by this. He just couldn't seem to wrap his mind around it. He could definetly see Naruto having a crush on someone, but he couldn't see that with Kakashi…let alone with another boy! Though that actually might explain a few things….

Jiraiya noticed his ex-student's skeptical look and continued. "Well, you did notice how close Kakashi was to Naruto right? He hardly moved an inch away from the boy. It was almost as if he was waiting for me to try hitting him again."

'_He is right about that…'_ But he still just couldn't bring himself to believe that Kakashi may have certain feelings for Naruto. And it had nothing to do with whether Kakashi was gay or not. People had their own preferences and that was fine with him. He just honestly couldn't imagine the young jounin to have….dare he say it? Romantic feelings for someone….

"Oh well. You shouldn't think too much on it Minato. I don't think Kakashi has even realized it himself yet."

Realized it yet? That just made him think what would happen if he _did_ realize it. _'Wait, now I'm being bought into this ridiculous thought…' _Well if Kakashi did in fact like Naruto in that way, he wondered how Naruto would react.

'_Does Naruto even like anyone right now?' _

The jounin massaged his temples and let a sigh breeze past his lips. It was too complicated to think about right now. He'd rather think more on it later, and if Jiraiya did in fact turn out to be right…well he only hoped that everything worked out for his two students.

"I'm going to head home now sensei. There's something Kushina and I have to ask Naruto."

"Oh? Like what?"

Minato smiled. "If it turns out well, you'll hear about it tomorrow."

Jiraiya grumbled a bit about Minato being all secretive, but let it go. Whatever it was, it had to be good news for the brat, who he was slowly becoming attached to. With a couple goodnights spoken, the two shinobi parted ways.

* * *

><p>When Minato arrived home, he was very amused to see Kushina trying to brush down a reluctant genin's spiky hair. He snorted. If Naruto's hair was anything like his, then it was downright impossible to tame it.<p>

"Just hold still for a few more minutes Naruto-chan! I think I almost got them down."

"ITAI! Leave my hair alone!"

"Ugh it's like your hair is resistant to gravity! But that's ok, there's nothing I can't accomplish!"

Minato watched as his fiancé tugged and pulled at Naruto's hair, trying to make it stay down. He remembered the first time she tried to tame his hair. He shuddered. That was a horrible experience.

"Kushina leave the poor boy's hair alone. It doesn't look like it'll be staying down anytime soon."

"But I almost got it! Maybe if I mixed some herbs together and make a gel of my own, it could work on his hair! And then yours too!"

At that Minato flinched. He resisted the urge to pat his hair protectively and instead put on a strained smile. "Honey, don't you remember what we discussed earlier?"

Kushina stopped her ministrations on Naruto and looked up at Minato confused. After a few moments it dawned on her and she smiled widely and excitedly stood up. Naruto rubbed at his head, mussing up his hair again. When he stopped, he looked up and saw Minato and Kushina standing together and both smiling at him.

He blinked. "What?"

Kushina giggled and Minato patted her on the shoulder, then turned to the young genin. "Naruto. Since the first day you came to the village you've brighten up a lot of people's lives. You really proved to everyone that you were now a Leaf shinobi and did an outstanding job on our last mission."

Minato paused for a minute, trying to collect his thoughts. "I know the Hokage is planning on getting your own place to stay, now that you're trusted enough to be on your own without a constant watch guard but…Kushina and I both know that if you left to live somewhere else it'd be a little empty here. And you've become a big part in our lives too…"

Minato trailed off a bit. He felt that Kushina should say the next part so she could say a few things too. With a gentle squeeze he let her know to continue. After getting the hint, Kushina stepped forward and kneeled down in front of Naruto, who looked like he was holding his breath. She smiled warmly at him.

"We both love you very much Naruto. You have no idea how much we care about you too. We consider you as family and…after we get married, we wanted to know if we could officially make you apart of our family."

Minato watched as Naruto's eyes got incredibly wide. He took a step forward and placed a hand on Kushina's shoulder. "Naruto, Kushina and I would like to adopt you."

Naruto stood there speechless. He almost didn't want to believe what he just heard. There was no way a demon child like _him_ could ever find such happiness. Never. It was way too good to be true.

"W-Why. Why would you want to adopt…someone like me?"

Minato and Kushina looked up at each other than back at the small genin. "Because we love you."

Naruto had lost count on how many times Kushina had said those words to him, and each time it felt good to be loved, but for some reason this time was different. The way she said it this time was filled with a very different kind of emotion. The kind that he'd seen other mothers have while speaking to their children.

A lump formed in his throat and his face felt hot. He could feel his eyes misting, and his nose burning, his shoulders shaking. A tight coil formed in his chest and while it hurt so much, it felt so damn good. As if even his body couldn't believe it.

Kushina hugged Naruto as hot tears started to pour relentlessly from his eyes. He desperately clung to her and buried his face into her neck while she hummed softly, trying to sooth him.

Naruto never made noise when he cried and for that he was thankful. It was embarrassing enough just to be crying in the first place. After a few minutes went by Naruto pulled away a bit, but not completely. He rubbed his eyes and face-trying to get rid of any excess tears and sniffed occasionally. Kushina even helped by pushing some of his hair out of his face and wiping some tears away.

Without much thought Naruto started to smile, which turned into a giggle, and then into a laugh. He was so happy right now he couldn't begin to describe what he was feeling except that he felt incredibly light. Just as he was beginning to calm down he looked up at them.

"You guys really mean it? You'd really be my parents?"

Minato ruffled Naruto's hair and then pulled him into a small hug, much to the genin's surprise. "Of course we mean it. We want you as our son."

How could Naruto say no to something he has always wanted his entire life? He hugged Minato back. Not only was he his sensei, but now he was his father. Kind of strange but it didn't matter to him much.

"Definitely. Nothing could make me happier, dattebayo!"

"You might as well be our son since you tack that at the end of your sentences like Kushina does."

"I can't help it if I say -ttebane! It just pops out of my mouth!"

Kushina smacked Minato light in the head and then embraced Naruto into a tight, loving hug. Minato wrapped an arm around Kushina, and placed his other on top of Naruto's head.

Naruto beamed up at his parents. Just the thought of the word made a warmth spread through his body and his head a big foggy from the sheer bliss he was feeling. In all his life, Naruto couldn't think of a time he had ever been so happy, and so loved.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I really loved writing that last part. Naruto deserves to have a family. And everyone, I am SO sorry it took me so damn long to update. It' been pretty hectic and whenever I had the chance I'd write just a little bit more for the chapter. But it's finally done! lol **

**And thank you for everyone who has reviewed. I love you all! *-* Well except one person, but I don't really care. All I can say is, if you don't like KakaNaru and would rather Naruto be a girl, all you have to do is click the back button, and go find Kaka/femNaru fanfics. It's as simple as that. But oh well, to those of you who don't like this fanfic that's fine. I respect your opinions cause I can say that I don't like Naruto as a girl and I'm sure most of you respect that as well. (I hope o.e) **

**And you can say the fanfic sucks for all I care, but don't complain about something that I will never have any intention of writing. **

**But anyway, thanks so much everyone for your reviews and your support. I hope the next chapter will come out sooner than this one did x.x At least spring vacation will be coming soon! Oh vacation…how I miss thee…..**

**Not to mention I'm really tempted to start a new fanfic but I shall resist! I want to at least get into the real romance first *-* **

**Ok I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Review please! They make me happy! ^-^ **


	9. Chapter 9

**Thank you everyone for your wonderful reviews. I'm so happy to see we're past 100 reviews now! *_* Ohhh I'd hug you all if I weren't so sick lol And Chapter 1 has been re-edited! I'll be working on other chapters in the future too when I get the time. It's just nice to see my stuff nicely written, makes me feel proud of my work lol **

**Okay, I hope you guys are ready for some kakanaru moments! I'll try to make it as fluffy as I can. At least for now. Getting even further in their relationship now! yaaay! *rubs hands together and giggles* (well the fluff will be later in the chapter, heh) Not to mention some stuff will be explained that I was too lazy to include in the last chapter ^^;; Alright, hope you all enjoy =) hehehe**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. But that won't stop me from putting him in fluffy and awkward situations ^-^**

~Come on Closer~

It was insane.

It was impossible.

Yet it connected with a lot the mysteries happening lately.

The Hokage sat back in his chair and let out a long sigh. Beside him sat Kakashi who seemed just as bewildered by the news as he was. And it wasn't just the news that had baffled them. It was also the person the anbu had found, stating that he had information on Naruto's disappearance.

Sarutobi leaned forward in his chair again and eyed the man sitting in front of him. "So what you are saying is that Naruto is currently stuck somewhere in the past. Is that right Koenma-san?"

Said man nodded and looked down with a frown. "Yes…I'm sorry I never told you all earlier, but I really couldn't at the time."

It was all too far-fetched. Not to mention suspicious. In all honesty, Sarutobi shouldn't be all that surprised. There were tons of forbidden jutsus out there that could accomplish almost anything. Even resurrecting the dead…well even that had its flaws but it was still quite a feat in itself.

"Please explain how you are sure of this and how you would even know."

Koenma nodded. "Yes of course. I guess I should start off by saying that I am a close friend to one of the jinchuurikis off in another village. I won't reveal his whereabouts though to secure his safety."

Sarutobi's eyes widened slightly. That only brought up more questions but he nodded understandingly and ushered him to continue.

"As everyone is aware, I'm sure, the Akatsuki have been hunting the jinchuuriki. But there have been some disturbing rumors going around that I'm beginning to believe are true."

"Disturbing rumors? Surely I would of heard of it by now."

Koenma looked around the room a bit nervously before leaning in closer to the Hokage. Intrigued, Sarutobi leaned in slightly too.

"Have you ever heard of a man named…Madara?"

The Hokage's eyes hardened as some memories filtered into his mind. He remembered Minato telling him about some man named Madara who was actually behind the Kyuubi's rampage. He had never seen the man in his life, but he believed in his successor.

"Yes…I have. But I can't say I know much."

Koenma shifted a little in his seat. "Well I can't say I know much either except that he has been hiding for years now and works behind the scenes of the Akatsuki and that…he has a jutsu that can control space and time. I'm not 100% sure on this information but it is the best lead that I can give you."

"Hold on. This isn't adding up." Kakashi, who had been listening intently the entire time, cut in and stared suspiciously at Koenma.

"Let's say for a minute that there is such a jutsu and that this Madara processes the ability to use it. He can't be the only one then since that shinobi I killed was able to use it. Not to mention, they were after you, not Naruto. Not from the start that is."

Koenma sighed and rubbed his hands together nervously. "Yes I know but…they were after me because they somehow found out I was going to meet a jinchuuriki at a designated location. Madara has specific pawns that he allows to carry jutsu similar to his own. He uses them to gather information and then leak it into the Akatsuki so they can all do the dirty work."

He paused for a minute. His eyebrows furrowed in deep thought for a moment before he continued. "However, his time and space jutsu shouldn't have anything to do with the past or future. No jutsu should be able to do that." Koenma paused again and became lost in his own thoughts.

Again this only furthered to confuse Kakashi and the Hokage. And as the minutes ticked by they were both growing a tab bit impatient for the man to continue. Finally Sarutobi coughed into his hand and effectively gained Koenma's attention.

"You told us that you believed that Naruto has ended up in the past yet now you are contradicting your previous theory. How did you even come to the conclusion that Naruto ended up in the past?"

"You mean you haven't noticed?"

"Noticed what?"

Koenma stared at the Hokage for a moment before he spoke. "The changes."

This quirked an eyebrow and even made him steal a glance at Kakashi. Before he could ask any questions on his condition, he needed to be sure.

"What do you mean by changes?"

"Changes that seem abnormal. Changes that shouldn't be happening. I first noticed it about a day before your anbu found me. It was just around the border of Fire Country and Kusagakure. I've traveled back and forth around that area many times and have seen all of the battle sites that happened back during the Third Shinobi World War. But recently, I discovered a new battle site I had never seen and I know it was never there before. Some of the trees were much younger than the surrounding ones and some areas where just bare. There were even some savage looking claw marks left on the bark on some of the older trees."

Kakashi and the Hokage stared a bit shocked at Koenma. The situation was starting to get more and more complicated. With bated breath, Sarutobi asked his next question and hoped that it wasn't true. "Do you mean…that these changes could be happening because Naruto may be altering the past?"

A heavy silence hung in the air around the three men until Koenma finally sighed heavily and rubbed at his face. He suddenly appeared very weary. "While it is a very large stretch, I know that it isn't impossible to somehow go to the past. I've seen too many things happen back in my day. And even though Madara's jutsu is able to suck people into a separate dimension, I would of never fathomed it could suck people into a whole other time period."

The Hokage mulled over the information. All of this was very possible and it could explain Kakashi's condition. At the thought of him he glanced over to the Copy-Cat nin and noticed that he was covering his left eye with his hand. He was probably wondering the same thing too.

Sarutobi cleared his throat. "If there really are some changes to those old battle fields, then it'd probably explain what has happened to Kakashi."

Koenma looked over at Kakashi confused. He looked the man over and then just stared, not understanding what was wrong. "Maybe I'm missing something but I don't see anything wrong or different about him."

Kakashi sighed and removed his headband to reveal his left eye. "You wouldn't know the difference because you've never seen my left eye before now. A couple weeks ago my left eye had the Sharingan, an eye with the kekkei genkai of the Uchiha clan. But now…it's gone. I just have a regular eye now."

Koenma nodded before everything he said registered in his head. "The sharingan? How did you come into possession of that!"

Again Kakashi sighed while he put his headband back over his eye. Somehow he didn't feel right without it on. "It's a very long story that happened years go during the Third Shinobi…World War…"

As he said that, everyone in the room came to the same realization. It all clicked. It was starting to become very possible that Naruto was indeed somewhere in the past, and now they knew what time he might be stuck in.

"I think I will dispatch an anbu squad to that new battle site you mentioned earlier Koenma. Just to be sure." Sarutobi started to take out some papers to make a few arrangements when Kakashi spoke up.

"Hokage-sama. Something still doesn't seem right. If Naruto is messing around in the past and altering our time, why aren't our memories being altered as well?"

Koenma had just been wondering the same thing and he had a slight theory. "Well, there are some changes already happening. I think it's a slow process though. How long has it been since Naruto has disappeared?"

"For almost a month now," Sarutobi replied.

"I see. Now when did your Sharingan disappear Kakashi?"

"Just last week."

"I see…" Koenma sat back in thought, trying to organize a timeline of events that have been occurring. "Well I wish I had some more clues. I can't say when that site near Kusagakure appeared but I think the physical changes from the past are occurring right after they happen. As for memories…I think those will take longer for them to surface. You will probably start to loose some of your old memories as well seeing as they will be replaced with different ones."

Kakashi did _not_ like the sound of that. His past was what made him who he was today. And just loosing Obito's eye was hard enough on him as it was. Now he was going to loose some memories of him too? And of his other comrades and friends who were now dead?

Sarutobi noticed the distraught look in Kakashi's eye. He could understand how this might be tearing him apart on the inside. Before everyone could get even more tense and lost in their thoughts Sarutobi stood up and walked over to the window that overlooked the village.

"We'll adjourn this meeting for now. We still need more evidence to be certain that Naruto may be altering the past. I'll send an anbu squad with you to that battle site for them to examine and then have them report back to me. Hopefully in that time we'll notice some more changes and then be able to come to a more accurate conclusion."

Immediately an anbu appeared in the room and bowed slightly before Sarutobi. "Hokage-sama."

"Bear. I need you and your team to go on another scouting mission. You will be bringing Koenma-san with you for him to show you where and I want your squad to take a good look at the area." Sarutobi paused a moment in thought before he added, "and bring Hawk with you too. He's one of the few who are still alive today since the Third Shinobi World War. I'm sure he will notice some things."

"Yes Hokage-sama." Bear then shushined out of the Hokage's office to inform his teammates of the new mission.

Sarutobi then turned back to Koenma. "I apologize for troubling you with this. Once we gather more evidence you're free to head back home."

"Oh no apologies please. I am to be blamed for most of this."

The Hokage smiled slightly. "Don't blame yourself. Strange things are always happening in the ninja world. Now please get some rest. You will be leaving with the anbu tomorrow morning."

"Of course."

Koenma stood up and bowed to Sarutobi before leaving. After he left a heavy silence hung heavily in the room. Sarutobi sat back down at his desk and rummaged through some papers to busy himself, waiting for Kakashi to say what was on his mind. It didn't take long for the jounin to speak up.

"Hokage-sama."

"Yes?"

Kakashi was silent for another minute before he got up and sighed. "Never mind. I'm going to go home. I need some rest."

Sarutobi looked up at Kakashi and suddenly noticed how tired the man looked. Not from his face since it was mostly covered up, but he could see it in how his body sagged and shoulders slumped slightly. Even when the jounin came back from tough missions beyond exhausted, he still managed to hold himself up with a prideful aura around him. But right now all he could see was a shell. Before the grey-haired nin could escape Sarutobi called out to him.

"Kakashi."

Said man didn't turn around but cocked his head in the Hokage's direction.

"You need to let go. I know how much Obito's eye meant to you, how much you treasured it. But that was a heavy burden from your past that you need to let go of. It's time you moved on."

Sarutobi was surprised to actually hear a laugh come out of Kakashi. A very bitter one.

"It's true that his eye meant a lot to me. I promised to see the world and life for him with that eye. I wanted him to see everything I saw. To live through me. But how can I let go of the past now that I'm going to forget most of it? If anything I doubt I could stop myself from not clinging to even a small fragment of a memory of the old days. And what's worse…" Kakashi turned his head to face the Hokage.

"I can't let it go because now Naruto is there."

Before the Hokage could respond to that Kakashi opened the door and left, closing the door behind him quietly.

* * *

><p>Kakashi was beyond annoyed. He hit the annoyance level an hour ago, and he was just beginning to calm down until he came across this little incident.<p>

It started a few hours ago after he woke up. He put in a couple eye drops on his new eye and decided that he was going to get back into training today. He was sick of lazing about. It was his intention to go ask Obito if he wanted to train first, but when he found him he was too busy. Then he thought of asking Rin to train with him but quickly disregarded that idea. Rin was sweet and a great friend, but she was more skilled in medical nin jutsu. She wasn't the combat type.

Then Naruto came to mind. If anyone he could probably rely on him to train with him. The blonde was always going off on how he wanted to 'kick his ass' anyway. That had him snort in amusement as he started towards Minato's house. However when he got there no one was home. Kakashi shrugged it off and thought maybe Naruto would already be at the training grounds.

No such luck though. Then it occurred to him that maybe Naruto would be at Ichiraku's stuffing his face with ramen. But when he got there, he was slightly surprised to not see Naruto. That had Kakashi frowning. How could one loud and obnoxiously bright ninja be so hard to find? He never had a problem back when he stalked him.

Kakashi let out an irritable sigh. Just as he was going to head back to the training grounds and train by himself he heard him. It was a very loud and enraged shout and he went racing to it's location and came to an abrupt halt.

And this is where he felt a powerful headache approaching as he glared at the one person he didn't want to see.

"I said no Ero-sannin! There's no way I'll ever do that again!"

"Oh come on brat! I just need a little inspiration and you're perfect for the job!"

"Hey let go! I said I'm never doing that again! _EVER_!"

Kakashi had had enough. He didn't know what they were arguing about, and he was sure he didn't even want to know. All he wanted was to grab the blonde and drag him off to the training grounds with him.

"Naruto."

The blonde's head snapped in his direction and a bright smile engulfed his face at the sight of the jounin. Kakashi's shoulders relaxed a bit seeing that Naruto was so happy to see him.

"Hey Kakashi! What's up?"

Kakashi opened his mouth to reply but snapped it shut when Jiraiya butted in.

"You have some timing. Beat it! I have business to attend to with the brat."

Kakashi practically growled under his breathe as Naruto whirled on the toad sage.

"What the hell old man! I said I wasn't doing that ever again!"

Jiraiya huffed but suddenly got an idea and grinned. "Well what if I got you something in return for your services. Like ramen! I'll take you out for ramen later kid."

Naruto actually went silent for a few moments, contemplating his options until he roughly shook his head. "No! Not even ramen will persuade me!" On the inside Naruto was ripping his hair out. He never in his life refused ramen before! It was torture but he would endure it.

Kakashi was a bit flabbergasted to hear the blonde's refusal for ramen. What the hell was so bad that the old toad hermit wanted him to do? He was probably going to regret this, but he was beyond curious.

"What in the world are you two talking about?"

Naruto looked over at Kakashi and his face suddenly went red. Before he could come up with something to explain the situation to Kakashi, Jiraiya let out a devious chuckle. Kakashi looked over at Jiraiya and immediately his gaze hardened when he saw that conniving grin on his face.

"So Naruto never told you of his unique jutsu hmmm?"

Kakashi lifted an eyebrow questioningly. "What jutsu?"

Naruto blanched. "No! Don't tell him anything Ero-sannin!"

"Don't be so shy Naruto-chan! It's a pretty impressive jutsu I must say. There's no need to be embarrassed about it."

Naruto fumed on the inside and without thinking he lunged forward to attack him, but Jiraiya easily flipped him over his head and he toppled over straight into a barrel. Quickly Jiraiya slammed the barrel's lid down and let out boisterous laugh while Naruto kicked and screamed from within his confinement.

Kakashi could only stare as a sweat drop formed on the back of his head. As much as he wanted to help Naruto out of his predicament, he also wanted to know what was going on. Once he did, he'd rescue the blonde and haul him to the training grounds.

"Maybe if you ask him nicely he'll show it to you."

The barrel rattled around as Jiraiya held it down by leaning on it with one hand. "He performed it on me when I first met him after I was chased by some women. Poor boy didn't know anything about the female body either. And he's so close to hitting puberty. What a late bloomer he is."

Kakashi felt his eye twitch. If the bastard didn't get to the point in the next few seconds he was going to rip his arm off and take his packaged Naruto with him.

Jiraiya felt the killer intent rolling of the boy and decided to cut him some slack and get in some of his fun while he could. "Anyway, he tried to prove me otherwise by transforming into a woman! A hot, busty, and naked woman! Ohhh he certainly took me by surprise, I practically felt myself get-"

"SHUT UP!" Naruto finally smashed his way out of the barrel and punched him in the chin. He was aiming a bit higher but curse the mans incredible height! Naruto's small stature couldn't reach that high!

"Don't ever bring that up again! I'll have nightmares! You scarred me for life after you tried to molest me!"

"He _what_?"

Kakashi stood there stunned. As Jiraiya told his part of the story Kakashi couldn't help but feel slightly aroused by the description of a naked girl Naruto. He cursed his inner perverted mind that had been getting a bit out of control lately. But when Naruto said that he tried to _molest_ him, his mind went blank. And after the word replayed itself in his head about a hundred or so times he felt himself snap.

Naruto turned towards Kakashi a bit nervously to try and dig himself out of this mess but stopped. The jounin looked so livid. His eyes were a steely, cold looking grey and he could see a storm brewing behind them. It made a shiver run up his spine. Naruto could only be grateful that the look wasn't directed at him.

"Maa, maa. You're over reacting you brat. I didn't molest you." Jiraiya rubbed at his chin and ignored the heated look coming from Kakashi. "I only massaged your shoulders tenderly. Then tried to get a feel in with that delicious pair of breasts you had-"

A kunai whizzed through the air towards the toad hermit's head but he easily caught it. He cocked his head towards Kakashi and smirked.

"Well what has you all riled up? I only told you what you wanted to know."

Kakashi continued to glare daggers at the man but tried to calm himself down. He couldn't believe he let his emotions take over like that and actually throw a weapon at a fellow Konoha ninja. He knew better than to let anger rule over his actions but the thought of that pervert touching Naruto made his blood boil.

As Kakashi visibly started to calm down, Naruto relaxed. It really unnerved him to see Kakashi loose his cool like that. He wondered why….

Jiraiya smirked after seeing Kakashi simmer down. In his mind he was sickeningly delighted at Kakashi's angry outburst. It only proved his theory. He turned his attention back to Naruto who was staring worriedly at the jounin. Yep, he was definitely sure of it now.

"Well now that that's out of the way, what do you say Naruto? I really do need your help in getting some inspiration."

Naruto whipped his head back at Jiraiya in disbelief. "After all that just now? No way! I said no-"

"What if I taught you a really powerful jutsu for compensation?"

"A powerful…jutsu? Like an A-ranked jutsu?"

Jiraiya nodded and Naruto couldn't believe that he was actually considering it. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. He could just make sure that the pervert didn't touch him this time. He could probably learn a lot out of this.

While he was thinking it over Kakashi seethed. Just as he calmed himself down, the bastard had to bribe Naruto with something he knew the blonde wouldn't refuse. How dare he! There was no way he was going to let that happen. He briskly walked over to Naruto and grabbed his arm in a firm grip.

"Hey! Kakashi what are you-"

"Naruto I came here to ask you if you would train with me."

A bit surprised Naruto said, "Oh well I-"

"Hey wait a minute! I got dibs on the brat first! Wait in line!"

Kakashi turned slightly and gave Jiraiya a sharp, deadly look. "Back off, he's mine. And he's coming with me."

Without even waiting for Naruto's approval he began walking towards the training grounds while roughly dragging the protesting blonde with him.

"Hey! Wait a second! Kakashi-quit dragging me dammit!"

Naruto's constant struggling was really getting on Kakashi's last nerve. After the blonde took a swing at his head he had had it! He whirled around to snap at him but didn't expect the sudden outcome. With Naruto tugging and leaning his weight in the opposite direction, he completely lost his balance when Kakashi turned towards him. His feet slipped right out from under him and both his hands latched onto the nearest thing to anchor him again. Which was Kakashi. However, the jounin was taken by surprise and wasn't prepared for this and was yanked forward. The end result was not only painful, but awkward.

Naruto was flat on his back groaning from the pain in his head, while Kakashi cringed in pain from the impact. A few seconds went by and Kakashi finally opened his eyes and immediately went rigid.

His face was buried into Naruto's neck. He could faintly smell Naruto's scent. It was just a very clean and slightly sweet smell with a hint of a musky scent underneath. Kakashi lifted his head up a bit to clear his senses but it was no use. After catching a whiff of Naruto, his scent seemed to be everywhere around him. And that wasn't even the worst of it.

His whole body was aligned almost perfectly with Naruto's. Chest to chest. Abdomen to abdomen. And even…pelvis to pelvis. He could feel every little movement Naruto made. From the movement of his chest as he breathed right down to his hips as he started to squirm.

"Itai…my head is throbbing." Naruto's eyes started to flutter open. He squinted up at Kakashi in confusion.

The second Kakashi so those blue eyes look up at him he jerked backwards. Naruto was still clutching Kakashi's shirt and was harshly yanked up as well. His eyes flew open and he gasped. The sudden change in altitude made his head whirl unpleasantly and he felt queasy.

Seeing this Kakashi put his hands on his shoulders to steady him. It was then that he noticed the crowd that had gathered and all the eyes watching the two of them. Some in amusement, others worried, and a few that looked…disgusted?

It clicked in his head the awkward position they were in. Not as bad as before but still not good. Kakashi was still kneeling over Naruto, and the blonde was now in between his legs. He ignored the villagers and started to gently pry Naruto's hands from his shirt when the crowd parted for someone to come through.

"Ohoho! If you wanted too nail the brat so badly Kakashi, all you had to do was say so. I'd understand."

Kakashi's face flushed a deep, and burning red. Of course that damn pervert had to walk in and make everything appear worse than what it was! He started to hear murmurs coming from the villagers and now more people look a bit disgusted or uncomfortable.

"Ohh what is this?" Jiraiya leaned down to pick something up. After a quick glance at it he burst out laughing. "AHAHA! Who would of guessed that you were a fan of one of my books!"

Kakashi's head snapped up and his eyes widened in absolute horror. Jiraiya was holding the book Naruto gave him as a present in one hand while the other hand clutched his stomach while he laughed. He opened his mouth to speak but felt it go incredibly dry.

"You…you mean you're…" Oh he couldn't bare to say it. He didn't want to believe it either! Maybe he was wrong…? But god help him if what he was thinking was true!

Jiraiya finally calmed down and stood up tall and proud. "Yep, that's right! I'm the author of the Icha Icha Paradise series! My next book will be coming out very soon too! Maybe I should personally autograph it for you!"

Kakashi heard glass shattering and mountains exploding somewhere for some reason. Oh wait. That was actually the sound of his world imploding in on itself. He could feel his mental health deteriorating.

Naruto finally stopped feeling the ground sway beneath him. And he finally didn't see triple of everything. The first thing he saw was his hand still tightly fisted into Kakashi's shirt and his hand trying to pry Naruto's hand off. Well it was in the position to do so but now it was barely holding onto his hand. Naruto glanced up at Kakashi's face and saw a look of distraught on it. He followed his gaze and it landed right on Jiraiya. Who was holding the book Naruto had given Kakashi.

No wonder Kakashi looked heartbroken! That asshole stole his book from him! And Naruto was having none of that. How dare he!

"Oi! Ero-sannin!" Naruto pulled himself from underneath Kakashi and stood up on wobbly legs. "Give back Kakashi's book! I gave that to him as a gift!"

Jiraiya's eyes bulged and his mouth dropped. Was the kid serious? Well judging from that pissed off look he was receiving he could bet that he was. _'I can't believe it. This just keeps getting better!' _

While Jiraiya was standing there stunned, Naruto marched over to him and swiped the book out of his hands. For added measure, he flipped the middle finger at the man and walked over to Kakashi.

Naruto looked down at him a little worried. The jounin still looked like he was completely out of it. He grabbed Kakashi under his arm and pulled him up and led him away from the crowd to the training grounds. Jiraiya didn't even try to stop them.

The entire way Kakashi remained silent. Even when they finally reached their destination, Kakashi hadn't said a word. Naruto snapped his fingers in front of the jounin's face a few times to get his attention but it failed.

"Oi, Kakashi. You there? Hellooooo!"

Still no response. He was just gazing at nothing. He almost looked like a zombie. Annoyed, Naruto took the book he was holding and smacked it hard against Kakashi's head. It finally got a reaction out of him and Naruto smiled. It only lasted briefly though, as the jounin instantly glared at Naruto and lunged at him.

Naruto didn't even have time to dodge him. Kakashi collided into Naruto and pinned him against a nearby tree. Before Naruto could bring his hands up to push him off, Kakashi grabbed his wrists and slammed them above his head and glared down at him.

"What the _hell _was that for?"

Naruto winced in pain. The bump he got on the back of his head from earlier started to throb again. He glared right back up at Kakashi.

"You weren't responding you asshole! I brought us to the training grounds like you wanted so we could train but all you did was stand there!"

Kakashi grimaced and loosened his grip slightly. It was just enough for Naruto to wrench his wrist out of Kakashi's grasp and shove him away. He rubbed at the bump on his head while muttering under his breath about ungrateful assholes.

Kakashi deflated a bit and felt bad. He hadn't meant to aggravate the sore spot on the blonde's head. He was just so overwhelmed with everything that just happened. He almost wished that he hadn't bothered looking for Naruto this morning. Maybe then he could of saved himself some of the utter embarrassment. Speaking of embarrassments….

"Oh by the way, here's your book back."

Naruto held the book out in his hand towards Kakashi. All the jounin could do was stare at it a bit dumbfounded. After discovering the author of the book, he wasn't sure if he wanted it back. He felt so dirty….

A few seconds went by and Naruto's arm started to ache from holding it stretched out for so long. What the hell was the bastard's problem! He should be grateful that he got his book back and telling the blonde thank you!

"What the hell's wrong with you?"

Kakashi didn't respond. In fact, it seemed he was going into a relapse from before. With a growl under his breath Naruto stomped over to the jounin.

Kakashi stiffened when Naruto invaded his personal space. The blonde reached his arms around him and for a second, he thought Naruto was going to hug him. But he didn't, he just leaned in and reached behind him to put the book into his back pouch. While Naruto fumbled with the latch Kakashi could smell the genin's scent again. He unconsciously inhaled deeply.

"Damn this stupid thing! It won't close!"

Naruto pressed himself against Kakashi to get better access. Kakashi's hands were itching to push the blonde away but didn't. He could feel the heat from the smaller body seep into his clothes and then rub against his bare skin. His heart beat quickened and he was starting to feel hot. What the hell was happening to him!

"Ah! There we go."

Finally, after what seemed to take forever, Naruto fixed the latch on his pouch and pulled away. Instantly Kakashi felt his body shiver from the loss of extra body heat. But at least his heart was slowing down and he didn't feel so…hot anymore. His body was still tingling a bit but it was fading away slowly. Kakashi breathed a sigh.

"You feeling ok Kakashi?"

Naruto could sense something was wrong with the jounin. Heck, he had been acting weird ever since Jiraiya had possession of his book earlier!

Kakashi noticed the scrutinizing gaze Naruto was giving him. He grunted. "Yeah. I'm fine."

The genin didn't look all that convinced. "You sure?"

With a nod from the jounin Naruto shrugged and smiled. Whatever it was, Kakashi did seem more like himself now.

"Alright good! Now let's get to training! I'm so going to beat your ass today!" Naruto pumped a fist into the air but immediately clamped his hands down over his head. He was feeling dizzy again.

Kakashi saw this and felt guilty. It was mostly his fault that Naruto got hurt. He walked over to the blonde and lightly grabbed his arm.

"Come on. Let's go find Rin so she can check out that bump on your head. Then we can train."

Naruto pouted slightly but nodded. He wanted to start training now.

Kakashi noticed Naruto stick his lower lip out and quickly looked away. "Naruto?"

"Hmm?" Naruto was still clutching his head while Kakashi led the way.

"After we train, want to go out for ramen?"

The only thing that met Kakashi's ears was silence. A bit reluctantly he turned his head to look at the blonde and then blinked. Naruto's eyes were a beautifully bright and shining blue and he swore that they were sparkling. Then a sly look came into those eyes.

"Will you be paying?"

He felt a sweat drop form on his head. Of course the blonde would ask that and he knew he was going to regret this but he nodded anyway.

"YES! I'm getting ramen later! And I won't even have to pay it!"

Naruto suddenly took the lead and told Kakashi to hurry up so they could find Rin. Kakashi gave an exasperated sigh at the blonde's antics but inwardly smiled. If Naruto was happy, then he himself couldn't help but feel happy too. Especially if he was the one to make the blonde happy.

TBC…

* * *

><p><strong>AN: *_* I giggle whenever I write Kakashi in awkward positions with Naruto. I'm sure most of you have noticed I like to write those kind of scenes! XD **

**And just as a foot note to everyone from the beginning with the whole time explanation…that was hard for me. I remember the episodes where Sasuke had attacked the Hokage summit and after he was badly injured, Madara came down and sucked him and Karin into this whirly thing and into…well what I thought was some separate dimension. And there Karin healed Sasuke. Since a dimension is a separate time and space from the original world, I decided to make that the core reason Naruto ended up in the past. It **_**was**_** a complete mistake that Naruto ended up there. The jutsu wasn't suppose to do that. It was suppose to send Naruto to some other place where Madara could torture him or whatever. After Sasuke tried to intercept, the ninja's chakra fluctuated and pumped too much chakra into the jutsu and sent Naruto to the past.**

**That was how they would kidnap people so Madara could gain knowledge on the whereabouts of the jinchuuriki and then leak the information into the Akatsuki. Of course, that episode of Madara and Sasuke, I based on my own opinion. I don't remember much from that episode but it's my fanfic, and I am trying my best to make everything fit. I do try to be a little bit clever x.x**

**So anyway, I hope you all enjoyed chapter 9! And by the way, next Saturday is my birthdaaay =D Can't wait! ^-^ I'm going to get chapter 10 up by then. Just a little present to myself XD And a thanks to all my wonderful readers and reviewers. You're the best! ^-^ **

**Also, to people who aren't aware and haven't already, please watch the Kony 2012 video. You can find it on youtube. And if you don't believe in that, don't flame me or yell at me! You do not have to view it if you don't want to. I'm just trying to spread the word cause I believe in it and want them to catch that bastard and save those African children. Thank you to everyone who does support it! **

**Alright, please leave a review for me guys! You know I love them! =D**


	10. Chapter 10

**Thank you everyone who has reviewed! ^-^ I am sooooo sorry this took so long to update. I had wanted to get this out right on my birthday but…lots of stuff happened. And now my vacation is over. *cries* I've been so busy on my own vacation! Makes me sad that sometimes I'll only be updating once or twice a month. I can't wait for summer! **

**Well now that I'm back I hope you all enjoy chapter 10! I'll always come back to write for you guys and I will finish this fanfic so I hope you all still enjoy reading it! ^-^ Thank you everyone! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Though one day when I rule the world, and he will be mine. 8D **

~Come on Closer~

Chopsticks clacking and unrefined slurping was assaulting Kakashi's poor ears and he felt his own chopsticks start to snap in half in his hand. He knew he was going to regret this. Bringing Naruto to Ichiraku and willingly pay for the entire meal was just asking to become dirt poor.

He heard the clank of Naruto setting his bowl down. He sighed with relief. Finally the blonde was done-

"One more miso pork old man!"

That does it! He was going to strangle the blonde for this. That was his fifth bowl already! The chopsticks in Kakashi's hands finally snapped and he turned towards Naruto to knock him out when his whole resolve just deflated.

"Thanks again Kakashi! You're the best you know that?" Naruto gave Kakashi a cheeky grin and then turned to the bowl of ramen placed in front of him.

It was beyond irritating. Whenever Naruto got under his skin and his anger started to boil over, he wanted nothing more than to do some serious damage to him to relief himself of the blonde frustration! But, as he was sure fate was against him, he never got the chance to do just that. All the genin had to do was look up at him with those watery blue eyes, and his fiery rage would be doused.

With a disheartened sigh, Kakashi turned back to his bowl of ramen. He hardly touched it because he wasn't all that hungry even after the strenuous training he and Naruto had done. Kakashi had to admit that the genin definitely got a lot stronger since the last time he sparred against him. Their last spar was exhilarating and gave him a powerful urge to train with Naruto till he fell over in exhaustion. Not only that, but training with Naruto was…fun.

He glanced to his side and watched Naruto scarf down all those fattening noodles. To him the broth of the soup was like rich grease. It made him wonder how the blonde wasn't fat yet. Though, with how energetic Naruto was it wasn't a surprise that he was so thin.

"Ahhh. That was great! Maybe one more-"

"No."

Naruto looked over at Kakashi with a pout. "Just one more bowl. Last one I promise!"

Kakashi's eye twitched and before his resolve shattered, he pushed his ramen over to Naruto.

"Uhhh…are you sure Kakashi? This is yours."

"It's fine. I'm not hungry anyway."

"Alright then! If you're sure."

Naruto pulled the bowl over to him when he got an idea. He glanced over at Kakashi and grinned.

"Ne, ne Kakashi."

The jounin turned towards the blonde and then narrowed his eyes at him. Naruto was holding out his chopsticks with some pork on it to him. Was he seriously trying to feed him?

"Say ahhhh."

Yep he was. Kakashi's eye twitched and he glared at Naruto. The genin just smiled brightly at him, waiting to see if Kakashi would take off his mask.

"What in Kami's name are you doing?"

Naruto pouted slightly. "What does it look like? Trying to feed you of course."

Kakashi stared blankly at Naruto for a couple minutes till the blonde started to sweat a bit. Finally Naruto gave in and sighed heavily.

"Fiiine. I was only hoping to get a peak at your face without the mask on." Naruto turned back around and was about to eat when he noticed the pork he was holding in his chopsticks was gone. He blinked then turned sharply towards Kakashi, only to see the guy just setting his mask back in place.

"Wait! Did you-you just…when did you-GAH!"

Naruto threw his hands up in a fit. He was so upset to have missed his chance to see under Kakashi's mask. And the smug look in Kakashi's eyes just pissed him off even more. That bastard!

"Problem Naruto?"

Seething, Naruto turned back to his ramen and dug in with a bit too much force and gave out a gruff no to the jounin. He'd see what was under that mask one day. And nothing would stop him either! Kakashi couldn't hide behind that mask for long. He had to take it off sometime, and when that happened Naruto would be there.

Kakashi watched Naruto as he assaulted his food. The genin's face was priceless when he missed his chance to see under his mask. It was indeed fun to toy around with him. After a few more minutes Naruto finally satisfied the abyss he calls a stomach. Kakashi paid for the meal and tried not to think of how much money he just spent in only twenty minutes.

As the two of them started to walk back to the training grounds Kakashi felt a familiar chakra signature draw closer to them and growled under his breath. That man just never gave up did he? Before he could even turn to Naruto and tell him to run it was too late.

"There you boys are! I've been needing to talk to you." Jiraiya walked up to Naruto and Kakashi and clapped them both on the back, earning glares from the both of them.

Kakashi heaved a sigh. His poor mental state hadn't improved much since his little discovery from earlier. He was able to forget about it for awhile whilst training with Naruto, but now it was all coming back to him in waves and he was sure if the bastard didn't leave soon he was going to snap.

"What do you want Ero-sannin?"

Jiraiya huffed at the annoying nickname the brat seemed to enjoy using but brushed it off. "I was just talking to Minato earlier about their wedding. It'll be next week and I was wondering what you're going to do after that brat."

Naruto looked up at Jiraiya in confusion. "What do you mean?"

The toad sage smirked. "Well I know you've been living with Minato since you came to the village and that they've adopted you. But after the wedding those love birds might want some alone time for their honey moon."

"Honey moon? And I won't be in their way! They get lots of alone time."

Jiraiya shook his head. "You don't understand kid. Sure they have some alone time when they go out on dates, but I mean real alone time. You know, so they can make loooooove." The toad sage wiggled his eyebrows in a suggesting manner.

Naruto quirked an eyebrow in confusion and thought about it. And slowly it dawned on him.

"Oh….oh. OH!" Naruto's face went up in flames when he finally caught on. "B-But I don't have anywhere else to stay."

"What do you mean you don't? You got this brat right here." Jiraiya waved his hand towards Kakashi and hid a grin. "I'm sure a good _friend_ like him would let you stay at his house for a few days."

Kakashi stiffened when Jiraiya looked over at him with that sly look in his eyes. He had a feeling he was getting set up, but didn't know why or what for. The jounin narrowed his eyes at the older man, wondering what he was up to.

"That's true." Naruto's eyes wondered over to Kakashi who seemed to be glaring daggers at Jiraiya. The blonde was about to ask Kakashi if he could stay with him but stopped short. The jounin looked pissed if nothing else, and it was probably because Jiraiya suggested him for Naruto to turn to. That made his chest clench a bit in pain. He didn't know why but it hurt a bit when he thought of Kakashi possibly getting angry at the fact of him being around all the time. He didn't want to be over bearing either.

"No never mind. Maybe I can ask Obito or Rin."

At the sullen tone in his voice, Kakashi glanced over at Naruto and inwardly flinched. The blonde looked so dejected all of a sudden and he had a sinking feeling he was the cause of it. He was incredibly suspicious of Jiraiya, wondering what he was playing at, but he didn't want to just blow Naruto off. However, no one but Minato and the Hokage have been over to his house and he'd be lying if he said he wasn't a bit reluctant and nervous to have someone else staying at his place.

Kakashi looked over at Naruto again and instantly decided that it would be fine. He trusted Naruto and liked him a lot. What was the worst that could happen?

"No, it's fine Naruto."

Naruto looked over at Kakashi a bit surprised. "A-Are you sure?"

Kakashi nodded. "Yeah. I don't mind."

That bright, happy smile was back on Naruto's face and Kakashi felt relieved to see it there again. And before Kakashi could brace himself, Naruto lunged at him and gave him a tight and fierce hug. He stumbled back a bit and wrapped an arm around his waist. When Kakashi successfully regained his balance without falling, he awkwardly stood there half hugging Naruto, not knowing what else to do and waited for the blonde to be done with yelling thank you over and over again.

Once again, the jounin felt his body heat up and his heart beat quicken. And again, the blonde's scent filled his senses. It wasn't a clean kind of scent like before. Now it was a sweaty kind of smell with a very small trace of his own scent under it. It wasn't an unpleasant smell, but he still didn't want it fogging up his mind like before.

Gently he unwound Naruto's arms from his neck and shoulders. After Naruto was done chanting his thanks, Kakashi caught a wicked smirk on the toad sage's face and instantly knew he fell into a trap. But it was driving him crazy because he didn't know what _kind_ of trap!

"I'm going to head back home Kakashi and tell sensei I'll be staying with you for awhile. I'll see you later!"

And just like that, Naruto was gone and Kakashi was left with Jiraiya. They stared at each other for a few moments, sizing the other one up. After a minute of silence, Kakashi grunted and turned away, deciding to go home and prepare a room for Naruto. Unfortunately, Jiraiya decided to walk along side him on his trek home. The jounin ignored him, but it was becoming harder and harder to dismiss that irritating smirk on the old man's face that clearly said _you so fell for it._

This continued till Kakashi had finally got fed up. All of his instincts were on alert, screaming at him that something wasn't right and to get out before his mental health started to fail on him again. He was about to do just that when he heard a stifled chuckle come out of the toad sage. Without even thinking, Kakashi's head snapped towards Jiraiya and with a harsh glare he grounded out.

"_What." _

Jiraiya just smirked. "Oh nothing. Was just thinking of how elated you must be that Naruto will be staying with you for a few days."

Kakashi felt his eyebrow twitch. He wasn't sure what Jiraiya was getting at. But he had a feeling he'd understand soon enough. He might as well go along with it.

"What are you talking about?"

"What do you mean? I'm just saying it must be a God send that now you'll have Naruto all to yourself for awhile. No one to bother you at night either." At that Jiraiya gave a suggested wink.

Kakashi gave the toad sage a blank stare which caused Jiraiya to sigh. He had assumed the Hatake brat would catch on a lot sooner but it seemed like he was wrong. Looked like he would have to be blunt about it. Actually, this might be even more fun for him.

"Hey brat. You like Naruto don't you?"

Kakashi gave him an annoyed glare. "I do."

"Oh I'm glad you finally admitted it! That was easier than I thought. Though now you have the problem of wondering if Naruto likes you back. I'm pretty sure that brat does deep down but just doesn't know it yet and-"

Kakashi blanched. "I didn't say I liked him in that way! What I meant was that I've acknowledged him and regard him as…a close friend."

Jiraiya shook his head. "You're denying it kid. I've seen how you interact around Naruto. You're almost out of character."

"Listen you perverted hermit! Don't pretend like you know everything about me. I don't like Naruto in that sick way!" Kakashi glared harshly at the toad sage before picking up his pace, hoping to leave the old man behind. Unfortunately, Jiraiya picked up his pace too to keep up with him.

"You know…it's fine if you don't want to believe me, but there is a way to test to see if I'm right or wrong about this."

"And just why would I even bother to test it if I already know that you're wrong?" Kakashi picked up his pace a bit more. He was contemplating on using a teleportation jutsu to get out of their faster, but he had a feeling Jiraiya would have no problem tracking him down if he really wanted to find him.

Jiraiya grinned. "Have you ever masturbated?"

For a second, Kakashi _almost_ lost his footing. His eyes widened then suddenly narrowed at the smirking hermit. "Excuse me? What the hell does that have to do with anything!"

Jiraiya's smirk only widened in perverse glee. "Well everyone knows that sexual attraction and love go hand in hand. So if you can actually get off by thinking of the brat in that way, then it proves that you-"

"STOP! That is preposterous!"

Jiraiya burst out laughing. "I'm assuming you've probably never masturbated before! Well I guess that's alright. I was exploring that area when I was about your age so it's not too late to experiment."

Kakashi could not believe his ears. He could not even believe that he was still there _listening_! Without a second thought, Kakashi shunshined out of there. Even though now he was away from Jiraiya, Kakashi could still hear the pervert's laughter ringing in his ears. He tried to block that out by distracting himself by taking in his surroundings. It looked like he ended up on the other side of the village but fortunately not too far from his house.

While walking in the direction of his house, Kakashi kept himself alert, not wanting to run into Jiraiya again. He didn't think his sanity could take it for another minute. The jounin walked into his house and looked around.

Kakashi was a very neat person. He kept his house clean and never made much of a mess. Mainly because he was hardly home to begin with. But when he was home, he did tidy up a bit. He liked to come home to a clean and organized house after a long tough mission.

His house wasn't very big either. Just a two story home with the kitchen, study, and living room on the bottom floor, and three bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs. And of course the basement. Kakashi even kept that pretty clean as well.

Kakashi took off his sandals and his headband and went upstairs to his bedroom. Even though he didn't train for as long as he usually does, he felt unusually tired at the moment. Just as he laid down on his bed, he saw that _book_ on his bedside table. He glared at it for a second but then sighed. He had fully intended on setting the damn thing aflame but remembered that it was from Naruto. He didn't want to destroy the first present ever given to him from the blonde. Even if it was written by the scum of the planet. If he just forgot who wrote the book, then he did actually enjoy it. The intimate relationships in it were intense and he learned a lot from reading it.

So no. Kakashi was not going to annihilate it. Only because Naruto gave it to him. The jounin picked up the book and flipped to a random page. Ironically, it was the very same page he flipped to the first time he picked up the book back in the hospital. As Kakashi had read it, he learned that what the couple was doing was called 'anal sex'. He never knew sex could be done in such a way.

While thinking about everything he read, his thoughts drifted to when Naruto had barged in on him while he was reading it. And how Naruto got up really close to him. And how he had pinned the blonde underneath him. With those bright blue eyes staring up in surprise and the feel of that warmth emitting from the small body trapped beneath him…

Kakashi immediately snapped out of his train of thoughts the moment he felt a stir in his lower regions. His eyes widened in utter disbelief of what was happening. He never before got a hard on from reading or even thinking about the book and…but he wasn't even thinking about what goes on in the book just now, he was thinking of…

'_Oh hell no…'_

There was no way this was possible! Kakashi was only thinking of that possibility because that bastard toad sage had mentioned it earlier. Although that still didn't explain his little problem. With an irritated growl Kakashi got up from bed and stomped over to the bathroom. A cold shower should fix it right away, and then he'd try to go to sleep, and forget any of this happened!

Kakashi walked into his bathroom and slammed the door shut behind him. Quickly he removed his mask, shirt, pants, and boxers, all the while purposely looking anywhere but at his shameful arousal. He stepped into the shower and turned the cold water on full blast.

The moment the freezing water hit his bare skin he shivered unpleasantly. He wasn't used to taking such a cold and relentless shower but it had to be done. Kakashi stood there for a little over five minutes until he came to the realization that his arousal had not gone down in the slightest. In fact, it was burning hotter even more than it had been earlier!

Kakashi gritted his teeth in annoyance. He tried to will his arousal down but utterly failed. His dick stood up stubbornly, refusing to be vanquished or ignored. Kakashi slumped against the wall and looked up at the ceiling in distraught. There was another way to get rid of his problem. But just thinking about doing it made him feel sick with disgust and shame. A few more moments went by of contemplating on what he should do and he finally made up his mind.

Slowly, Kakashi brought his hand up and trailed his fingertips along his length. Immediately his body shivered. Not from the cold water, but from some pleasant ripples from within his body. The jounin had never masturbated before but he was going with the knowledge he had acquired from Icha Icha Paradise.

He continued to lightly touch and skim his fingers over his member. Soon the feathery pleasure that was rippling throughout his body caused his eyes to glaze over. He was quickly loosing himself in the sensations he was experiencing. Never before had he felt such heat arise from his nether regions and to creep up and throughout his body.

Kakashi's thumb then brushed the slit at the tip of his arousal. A low moan escaped his mouth. He brushed his thumb over the slit again and then added a little pressure to it. A small jolt jerked his hips forwards. Again he rubbed his thumb over the tip, and each time he received the same reaction. It was getting to the point that it didn't even feel like it was Kakashi himself who was giving him such pleasure.

Kakashi tilted his head up as he continued to stare at the ceiling. His mind was completely fogged up and he couldn't comprehend much of anything anymore. Nothing except from what he was feeling. But why was he feeling such sweet sensations? Who was doing this to him? Suddenly, a face flashed in his mind. Naruto's face. Yes that was it. Naruto always made him feel good on the inside when he was with him. So it was him doing it again, but this time, it was indescribably amazing.

Now only images of Naruto assaulted his mind, but Kakashi was too delusional to realize what was happening. His hand tightened around his member. He could see Naruto vividly in his mind now. They were back at the hospital when Naruto was sitting in front of him on his bed. Those captivating blue eyes were staring at him intently while a wide smile split across his face. That smile held a hint of mischief in it as the genin drew closer to him.

Naruto was so close now that he could feel the blonde's breath on his clothed lips. His body was on fire and on edge with bated breath as he waited to see what Naruto would do next. But he did nothing except tilt his head slightly, that teasing smile widening. Those soft lips parting to speak, but Kakashi heard nothing. He leaned forward, wanting to sample a taste of those lips, but the genin moved away just enough to be out of his reach.

A low growl permeated the room and Kakashi was surprised that it was coming from himself. His eyes narrowed as he noticed Naruto's shoulders shake with silent laughter. He noticed that the artificial light bounced off Naruto's blonde locks, making the strands of hair appear golden as it swayed slightly while Naruto gleefully laughed. In the back of his mind, he could hear it, but it sounded far off, so distant.

The sound faded away and Naruto locked his gaze with Kakashi's. It was then the jounin felt himself snap. It was those eyes. They held a challenging and determined look in their depths, as if daring Kakashi to make a move. And Kakashi _loved_ challenges. He would certainly conquer the blonde.

However, just as he pounced forward, he felt his member burn from between his legs. Kakashi hovered over Naruto as he began to pant and tremble. He wanted so much to ravage the blonde; to nip, bite, suck, and mark every part of that gorgeous tan skin. But he never got the chance to do just that. Everything started to get fuzzy and unclear and the last thing he saw was a big smile on the genin's face.

As soon as everything became distorted on him, he began to gain his focus again. His skin felt cold, but underneath that he felt unbearably hot. Before he could process another thought or take in his surroundings, his vision went white. The most amazing feeling he had ever experienced shot like rapid fire through his body. Kakashi was hit wave after wave with this tingling sensation until it finally came to an end. Though even after that, he still felt the after effects of what ever just happened. He released a guttural moan.

After a few minutes, Kakashi finally came to his senses. The shower was still running, and he was cold now. At some point he had slumped against the wall in the shower and slid down to the floor of the tub. Kakashi tried to stand up but his legs wobbled on him. He placed his hand on the wall to steady himself and felt something slippery and gooey on his hands. He turned to look and instantly his eyes widened.

Was that really what he thought it was? He dearly hoped not. After some hesitation, Kakashi looked down at his crotch and groaned in misery. Yep. He had done it. And he was a mess. And that's when it hit him. He had just masturbated to the thought of _Naruto_!

"_Oh Kami…"_

He felt disgust and bile burning in the pit of his stomach and scorching its way up to the back of his throat. How could he have such lewd thoughts of his friend? When the hell did he become such a….such a _pervert?_

And what made this whole thing even worse…was now that he was back in his right mind, he couldn't stop thinking of Naruto in such a way. Everything he envisioned seemed so real, so vivid. He could just feel the warmth of Naruto's breath inches from his face. And he could still see that childish grin plastered across the blonde's face too.

Kakashi sucked in a breath harshly when he felt his stomach flutter. It felt like their were acrobats in his gut cause it was doing some crazy flips and tricks around in there. The jounin leaned on the wall to steady himself. He couldn't believe this was happening. Was it really possible that he just might have…feelings for Naruto?

There were times he just couldn't stand the blonde and couldn't take being in his presence…but after they returned from their mission he had been spending more time with him. In fact, Naruto didn't get on his nerves nearly as much as Obito did. And he really did enjoy being around him. His smile was warm and happy, and his mood always brightened a bit when he spotted Naruto.

Kakashi even observed that he hadn't been as closed off as he used to be lately. Not to mention he had been doing things he wouldn't normally do when it involved Naruto. Like Icha Icha Paradise for instance. He would of thrown that trashy book away without a second thought or a care in the world, but didn't just from the simple fact that it was from Naruto. If it was from Obito, he had no doubt he'd burn the horrid thing. _And_ he paid for Naruto's meal at Ichiraku. He's never done that for anyone! _Ever!_

It was then that Kakashi realized he had it bad. He was actually crushing on Naruto. Just thinking it made his face heat up. Kakashi swallowed and his mouth suddenly became dry. Even if he realized his feelings now…there was no way Naruto felt the same way. He couldn't even fathom the possibility of Naruto actually having an inkling of romantic feelings for him like he did for that idiot. And now it was probably going to be a bit hard to control his emotions around the genin too.

Kakashi sighed in dismay and turned off the running water. He picked up a bar of soap to start cleaning himself of his…shameful body fluids. It was just when he was rinsing himself off when he remembered something incredibly important. Naruto would be staying with him _in his house_ for a few days. They'd be alone, just the two of them, and Kami help him but the blonde could get incredibly clingy and forget about personal boundaries. How in the mother fucking hell was he going to control himself and not do something he'd regret later?

And now that he thought about it, he also realized that Jiraiya had indeed set him up. Some how that bastard had knew all along about his inner feelings and played his cards right so Kakashi would be stuck in this situation. He clenched his teeth in irritation. If he ever saw that damnable sage's face again, shit was going to go down! How dare he mess around with his personal life like that!

It irritated him more that the toad hermit had _helped_ him to realize his repressed feelings. Hatake Kakashi needed help from _no one_! It was on rare occasions he'd seek for help and he usually went to Minato.

Kakashi sighed and rubbed at his temples. For now, he had to put Jiraiya aside. He was number one on his hit list, but he'd deal with that later. At the moment, he had Naruto to worry about. He was going to have to mentally prepare himself for the onslaught of raging hormones and emotions that were sure to come the next time he saw Naruto.

The jounin turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. He only took two steps before he stopped short. Kakashi looked down and cursed his wretched body. His member was standing fully erect again. Kakashi was in some deep shit if just thinking about Naruto got him painfully hard again this fast.

"Fucking hell!"

Kakashi stomped right back into the shower and blasted the cold water again. It didn't look like he'd be getting out anytime soon.

* * *

><p>Kakashi sat bolt right up in bed and gasped. He couldn't believe what just happened. He hadn't had a wet dream like that in years. Not since he was a hormonal teenager. The grown man threw the covers off and lifted the hem of his boxers up. He hated it when he let it go in his sleep. It created such a mess. But what surprised him was that he was hard again. He didn't even remember what happened in his dream but it must have been incredibly good to have him this aroused.<p>

All he could remember was that he was in the hospital and someone was there with him. That was it. He didn't even remember what the other person looked like or what they even did. The moment he woke up, the dream slipped right out of his mind as if it had never been there in the first place.

But it had been there. He did have it, the proof was in his boxers. But he wasn't really wondering who was in his wet dream, more like _why_ he even had one in the first place. Before he went to bed, he had in a depressed state again. Even though they had a lead to where Naruto could be now, there was still that lingering doubt that they would never be able to bring him back. Not to mention, he was really distraught over losing most of his memories. They were what made him the way he was now. The last thing he remembered before he fell asleep was Obito before he died.

So what the hell brought on this wet dream? It had no connections to anything he had been doing recently. And he never did dream much either! If he did dream, it was usually only memories of the past. The only time he's had such lewd dreams is when he reads Icha Icha Paradise before bed, or if he recently had sex with someone. And he hadn't done either of those for awhile now.

So the cause of this baffled him. Maybe his mind and body was trying to tell him to loosen up a bit. Drowning in his self loathing and depression wasn't going to help him any so he should start to straighten himself out. And at least be a little bit optimistic. Just like Naruto. If the little brat was around, he'd have a big smile on his face and brush off anything that could disrupt his happiness.

Maybe it was time for the teacher to learn a little something from the student. Kakashi got up and walked into the bathroom to take care of his erection and then clean himself up. After that, he was going to go to bed with a clear head and wake up tomorrow with a more positive attitude. They will bring Naruto back, and if they did it in time, then maybe everything will go back to normal and his memories would stay in tact. Kakashi could only hope.

.

.

.

TBC…

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I apologize again for taking so long to update. There are times I get busy and forget that I have a fanfiction to write. And when I do sit down I'll sometimes only write about half a page before stopping and doing something else. Sometimes I'll be typing away and I have an idea of what I want to happen next, but don't now how to put it into words. **

**You know when you're talking to someone but then you get tongue tied cause you don't know how to convey what you want to say and you go like "What was that word again?" That happens to me SO freaking much. It'll be at the tip of my tongue but I just can't seem to remember it! Sometimes I'll even have a whole sentence prepared in my head and when I finally want to write it…I forgot like the core part of it and I sit there forever trying to remember! It's so frustrating! So then I leave to do something else and come back to it later ^-^;; Sorry about this x_X**

**On another note, I was so freaking excited to see The Legend of Korra on Saturday! I **_**love**_** Avatar the Last Airbender. Possibly the best show I've ever seen on Nickelodeon. That and Danny Phantom lol. I miss it so much! I have to say Korra wasn't too bad. It hasn't exactly reached my expectation but hey, it was the 1****st**** episode, the intro to the series so I'm not judging it yet. I'm liking it so far! And because of that I'm gonna rewatch Avatar TLA! **

**Okay, lol enough of that, I just like to share with everyone something that gets me this excited XD Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Kakashi has finally realized his feelings for our favorite ninja! Let's see how it all turns out ^-^ **

**Thank you again and please leave a review! ;D **


	11. Chapter 11

**I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed! And give a big fat apology for this really late update. Nothing is worse than your laptop dying on you and losing all your files. Well I didn't have that many important files on it really, I have the important stuff on the main computer, but I liked to type on the laptop. And I did save all of my C.O.C chapters on my little USB stick…sort of. You see I only save it on the USB **_**after**_** I finish the chapter sooooo I had like half the chapter done when the laptop died. That's probably a fanfic writer's worst nightmare. I always hear other fanfic writers having such problems but with me I'm like "Pffft that'll never happen to me ahahahaha!" Well it happened to me ._. **

**So of course…it's really hard to rewrite a chapter when you had half of it done. I swear to god it's agonizing. Not to mention, I continued with my classes for the summer. I'm a part timer and I don't want to be in school for years so I don't really mind taking a class in the summer (even though it's at 8AM and is 4 hours long) It's effing torture man! e.e But that's life for you when you can't get financial aid. For those of you still in high school, enjoy it while it lasts! But anyway my summer class is coming to a close. I think I have 2 weeks left, and then I get to do my Fall semester! Freaking woo! -.- Hopefully by then I'll get a new laptop…**

**Again, I'm very, **_**very**_** sorry for this chapter being so late. I can't say updates will be frequent like when I first started writing this. I do have finals coming up again (fml) and I need to get stuff ready for the fall semester. And look around for a nice cheap new laptop. But anyway, please enjoy chapter 11 my wonderful readers! *hugs you all* I hope you'll forgive me and continue to enjoy C.O.C ^^ **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. But I do own Koenma! (the only original character in this fanfic lmao) **

~Come on Closer~

Naruto stood off to the side as he watched Kushina cook that nights supper. She hummed a cheery tune that would often get stuck in his head. He was going to miss this when he left to stay with Kakashi for a week, but he didn't want to get in their way. Speaking of which he still had to tell them of his plans…

When everyone was seated at the table, Naruto cleared his throat, "Um…Minato-sensei…Kushina-nee-"

"Naruto I told you before that you can call me Kaa-chan now! We love you as our son."

Naruto's cheeks flushed a bit. Even though they were adopting him and all and that they were going to be his legal parents, he was still a little bit in shock over the whole thing. He was slowly realizing that it wasn't just a dream.

"Ah, and you can call me Tou-chan…when we're not on missions of course." Minato smiled widely when he noticed Naruto's ears going red.

After fidgeting a little bit Naruto remembered what he needed to tell them. "Ano…I know we're becoming an actual family and all but…I'm going to stay with Kakashi for a little while."

There was a long pause as Kushina and Minato just stared at Naruto, and he at them. Finally Kushina broke the silence.

"Why? Is something wrong? Are you not comfortable staying with us or…or-"

"No! Nothings wrong or anything! Jiraiya just said that I should."

"Why did Jiraiya tell you that?" Minato had a very bad feeling about what Naruto was about to say. If it had his old sensei involved…then it probably wasn't going to be anything good.

Naruto used his chopsticks to play with the food on his plate a bit. "Well, he said that you guys would need some privacy after your wedding, and that I'd probably get in the way of your…privacy. He also said that-"

Naruto jumped when Kushina slammed her fist into the table. Her face had gone cherry red with anger and he had no idea why she was so mad. Minato himself had a small blush on his cheeks.

"That big pervert told you _**that**_? How dare he! Plus he shouldn't even be thinking about our personal business!" Kushina got up roughly and sent her chair skidding across the floor. "I'm gonna go throw his face through a wall!"

Minato quickly grabbed his fiancé's arm to stop her from leaving. He didn't want any villager's complaining to the Hokage about her rampaging through the streets of Konoha again.

"Calm down Kushina, we'll straighten that out with Jiraiya later like civilized people."

"Screw being civilized!"

Minato ignored her comment but continued to hold a firm grip on her arm as she glared murderously at the front door. If he softened his grip for even a second he knew she'd rip her way out the door and search every nook and cranny for the toad hermit. He turned back to Naruto who was staring at Kushina with wide eyes.

"Naruto, you don't need to give us any privacy. You're not in our way at all!"

Kushina postponed her hermit hunt for now and sat back down. "Minato's right. Don't listen to whatever that bastard sannin says."

Naruto couldn't help but smile at their words but had already made up his mind on this. To be honest, he wasn't doing it just for them, he was actually pretty excited about staying with Kakashi and didn't want this opportunity to slip.

"Thanks but…I really do want to give you guys some space. You deserve to have some time to yourselves after your wedding. Besides you probably won't get this chance later on when we get missions again."

At that Kushina and Minato paused to think. He was right, once their time off was over, they would get swamped with missions.

"I guess your right…"Kushina thought that maybe she wouldn't kill Jiraiya this time. "Well I guess it's alright then. Who will you be staying with again?"

"Kakashi."

"Really? I thought you might stay with Obito." Kushina had seen how close the two had gotten when they trained so much together. She knew the strained relationship Naruto and Kakashi had between each other, but maybe this was good for the two of them.

"Yeah…I thought about asking Obito but then Jiraiya suggested I ask Kakashi."

Minato paused in eating his food and narrowed his eyes. He smelled one of Jiraiya's infamous schemes in the works and he didn't like it. The conversation he had with the sannin awhile back at the restaurant suddenly struck him. His hand tightened around his chopsticks. Jiraiya better not be doing what he thought he was doing.

"Naruto, are you sure you don't want to stay with Obito? Wouldn't you be more…comfortable staying with him?"

Naruto was taken aback by the question. It wasn't that he didn't want to stay with Obito or anything, he just wanted to get to know Kakashi a bit better. He was finally breaking through that hard shell he could never breach before, even when he was in his own time.

"Comfortable? You don't have to worry about me. Kakashi and I've gotten a lot closer after our last mission. He even said that I could stay with him for a little while."

Now that surprised Minato. He knew for a fact that Kakashi did not like other people in his home. He only let the Hokage in, and sometimes him as well at times. But to all of a sudden let Naruto stay with him in his own house was shocking.

Minato bit his lip in thought. _'Maybe Jiraiya was right…' _

He was drawn out of his musings when he heard Naruto get up from the table and grabbing his now empty plate. Kushina got up as well to help try clearing the table. _Try_ being the key word here. He sighed when he heard Kushina drop a plate. Before she could make more of a mess he ushered her out of the room. He cleaned up the broken glass while Naruto cleared the table.

While Naruto was washing the plates he kept hearing Jiraiya's words echo inside his head. A very protective feeling overcame him the more he thought about it. If Kakashi did have feelings for Naruto and acted upon them while the boy was staying with him he didn't know what he'd do. Maybe he should have a talk with Kakashi? Though getting any kind of personal information out of him was more difficult than he'd like.

He glanced over at Naruto who had a scowl and concentrated look on his face as he scrubbed at a particularly stubborn stain that refused to be vanquished on one of the plates. An idea occurred to him. Instead of approaching Kakashi on the matter, he could approach Naruto. Give subtle warnings or hints to be careful. He knew Kakashi would never intentionally hurt Naruto but…Naruto was like the complete opposite of Kakashi. Things could either go very good for them, or very bad, and as much as he wanted them both to be happy, he wasn't sure if he should intervene on this or not. But one thing was for sure, he needed to know how Naruto felt.

"Ne, Naruto."

Said blonde looked up at Minato as he picked up another plate to wash. "Yeah?"

Minato scratched his cheek lightly and looked off to the side, not entirely sure how to go about this. "Well, I was just wondering…you've been in the village for awhile now and made quite a few friends and allies. But is there anyone out there that you might possibly…like?"

"What?" Naruto almost dropped the plate in his hands and looked up at Minato in shock. Of all the things Minato was going to ask or talk to him about, he never even thought this would be one of them. "Uhhh…well no I don't think so. I haven't liked anyone in that way for awhile…"

That suddenly peeked Minato's interest. So Naruto once had a crush on someone? "For awhile? That means you did at some point?"

Naruto remembered the small crush he had on Sakura. Now that he thought about it, he really wondered why he even liked her. Sure she was pretty but, that was about it. She was too infatuated with Sasuke that she never noticed him. Not to mention she wasn't particularly nice to him either, or even tried to be.

"Yeah I did…she didn't like me in the same way I did though. She liked someone else."

"Was this back in your old village?"

A very still silence fell upon them as Naruto stood there thinking. He hadn't thought much about his time in awhile. And he didn't want to. It actually made him feel a bit depressed when he did remember it. Naruto didn't want to think that it was because he missed the place…not really. Only a couple people, but everyone was probably happy that he was gone anyway, so he shouldn't dwell on it.

"Yeah."

Minato picked up on the sullen tone in Naruto's voice right away. There was even a hint of finality to it that pretty much closed that topic off. Looks like he wasn't going to find out anything more on Naruto's past life for awhile. And seeing that this also still seemed like a touchy subject, Minato tried a slightly different approach this time.

"Do you think that maybe someone likes you Naruto?"

That seemed to snap Naruto out of his gloomy daze. His eyes widened in confusion. "Why would anyone like me in that way?"

Minato didn't know if it was the question itself, or the pure look of confusion on the boys face and in his voice that threw him off. It was like he really could not fathom why anyone could like him, like he had no charming and loveable qualities. When Naruto still looked up at him waiting to be answered Minato sighed.

"You seriously don't think anyone could love you?"

Naruto shifted his weight slightly. "Well I know you and Kushina-neechan love me."

"Yes but…" Minato walked over to Naruto and kneeled in front of him to be level with him. He stared into eyes that mirrored his own so much. "Kushina and I have a very strong parental love for you. It's different than the kind of love I'm talking about with you."

Strangely, Naruto's face suddenly became expressionless. "Then no. No one would ever love me that way."

Minato gawked at him but then grabbed Naruto's shoulders in a firm grip. He couldn't believe what he was hearing! "And just _why_would you think that? Why in the world do you think no one could ever love you?!"

_Because of what I am. _

"It's not that I think that. It's just because I know that for a fact-" Naruto flinched when Minato's grip tightened on his shoulders. He saw so much anger intensely present in Minato's eyes and didn't understand why he was mad!

"And just how, pray tell, do you know this to be fact?!"

Naruto started to struggle within Minato's hold. He didn't know why but suddenly he felt a pain in his chest. He knew the beginning signs of when he was going to cry, but he had no idea why! He didn't understand why Minato was asking him these things. He didn't understand why it even mattered!

Minato didn't loosen his grip on the genin. If he did he knew for sure Naruto would bolt right out of there and he'd never again get an answer from him. "Naruto look at me and answer me!"

"Because…because…"

"Because what Naruto!"

"BECAUSE THAT'S HOW IT'S ALWAYS BEEN!"

Naruto's shout startled Minato but nothing made his heart ache more than to see tears rolling down his son's cheeks with such a pained and hurtful look in his eyes.

"It's always been like that! Ever since I can remember when I was little! The villagers hated me, no one liked me! They all said that no one could ever love a monster like me!" Naruto's mouth snapped shut. He said too much.

"A monster? They called you a monster?"

Naruto didn't trust himself to speak in case he revealed more than he should so he shakily nodded his head once.

Minato felt shaken to his core. Why? Why was Naruto treated so badly in his village? The more he tried to get to know his past, the more he realized how much he didn't know about the genin. He only knew what Naruto allowed him to know. Which was disconcerting in itself. Faintly, he could feel Kushina's chakra signature from the hallway. She had been listening in but it didn't look like she was going to intervene. It would probably be better if it was her to comfort Naruto since she would understand him better than he would. She knew what it was liked to be ridiculed and shunned by people since she contained the-

Minato's eyes widened. Kushina was a jinchuuriki, the Kyuubi's container. From what little information Minato knew about Naruto's past, it sounded an awful lot like he was a jinchuuriki himself. But which demon did he hold? Only the top most powerful villages had their own jinchuuriki but he never knew that the Grass village had one! Well…he had no proof that Naruto was indeed a jinchuuriki but it was definitely possible.

"Why did they call you that?"

There was a slight hesitation in Naruto's voice as he answered. "I-I don't know."

Instinctively Minato knew that that was a lie. Naruto did know, but he wasn't going to tell him. He grabbed Naruto's chin and turned his head so he looked directly into his eyes. What Minato saw was just a child who looked like he desperately wanted to forget his past and try and find some happiness in his life.

Without thinking, Minato pulled Naruto into his arms and hugged him tightly. He felt Naruto stiffen only slightly and then started to relax. Very shyly, Naruto brought his hands up to hug Minato back awkwardly.

"No matter what anyone says to you Naruto, just know that you yourself are not a monster. You are Naruto Namikaze now. And you are everything a monster is not."

Slowly all of the tension in Naruto's body began to fade away and he felt a light, warm feeling inside his chest where it was aching previously. He hugged Minato back even tighter. All his life he had wanted to hear those words. It made it tremendously better when Minato gave Naruto his namesake. Naruto was reaching his breaking point and a well of emotion was threatening to spill over, but he held on tightly and pulled in the reigns of his composure before he lost it completely. When he felt stable, he pulled away from the man he was beginning to see as a real father. Minato smiled softly at Naruto and ruffled his hair, an action he hadn't done in awhile, but an endearment that Naruto had found that he missed.

"Thank you. For everything and…" Naruto paused again when he felt his throat tighten slightly.

Minato smiled, understanding what Naruto was trying to say. "Hey now, don't get choked up on me again. That's what fathers are for. I only want to see you happy."

Naruto ducked his head and smiled. Then he shifted around nervously. "Do you…do you really think that someone could love me? You know, in that way…?"

Minato turned Naruto's head to face him again so their eyes were locked. "Do you have people that you love Naruto?"

"Yes of course! I love you and Kushina, our team, the Hokage, and even Ero-sannin…"

Minato chuckled. "If you can love them, then someone can and will love you in return."

"But…" Naruto felt embarrassed to ask this but he was growing incredibly close to Minato and at that moment he felt like he could ask the man anything. "I love everyone as if they were my family. But what does real love feel like? The kind that you and Kushina-neechan share?"

Minato could hardly believe where this little talk had lead to. All he really wanted was to try and dig for some information on Kakashi through Naruto by asking subtle questions, and to see where Naruto stood in all of it. But instead he got a whole lot more than he had originally planned. Minato was worried that Naruto might get hurt if Kakashi ever made a move on him. But after hearing Naruto say that no one could ever love him…it tore his heart apart. Naruto needed to see that he could be loved and if Kakashi was the one to do it then so be it. Of course, if Kakashi ever did hurt Naruto then there would be hell to pay.

He stood up and patted Naruto on the head again. "You'll know when you're in love with someone. You always feel happy and light when around them, you're constantly trying to get their attention, you get a warm feeling inside here," Minato pointed to Naruto's chest where his heart would be, "and almost never stop thinking about them."

Naruto thought hard on everything Minato said. So love makes you feel things like that huh?

"It looks like you're really thinking hard there. Is there someone you might possibly feel for like that?"

Naruto tilted his head in thought. Was there? He always had a warm feeling inside his chest when he was around his newfound friends and family, and he always tried to get everyone's attention. But, not everyone was on his mind all the time. Well lately Kakashi has been and-

Minato noted how Naruto's eyes widened slightly and he smirked. "Did someone come to mind?"

Naruto looked up at him with a dazed look in his eyes as if he forgot he was there. He blinked then shook his head. He started to leave the kitchen but just as he turned the corner he answered, "I don't know…"

* * *

><p>Minato and Kushina's wedding was small but beautiful. Mainly only close friends and some of their colleagues attended the wedding. Naruto had never seen a wedding before in his life and had been incredibly excited for it. He was dressed in a handsome sky blue kimono with white patterns of tree branches and falling leaves. Kushina herself had picked that out for him to wear. It was indeed an exhausting experience to go shopping with the woman, trying on every damn kimono she got her hands on, but it was also an experience he truly cherished. Every moment he got to spend with his new adopted mother and father he cherished.<p>

Naruto fingered the sleeve of his kimono and blushed happily, remembering when Kushina commented on how handsome he looked in it and how it brought out his eyes. He really loved her. She was everything he had ever dreamed of in a mother. And Minato was everything he had hoped for in a father too. A role model, a teacher, kind hearted, fun, and that was just to name a few.

He gazed over at the newly weds partaking in a very slow dance and smiled softly. Kushina looked beautiful. She wore a thin white shiromuku that faded into a peach and pinkish color towards the end tails. Her hair had been up in a loose bun during the wedding, but now she let it cascade down her shoulders and back. A veil hung loosely around her shoulders as her head nuzzled into Minato's shoulders. Minato looked quite stunning himself. He wore a dark blue and black montsuki that seemed to clash nicely with the colors Kushina wore.

A warm feeling blossomed inside Naruto's chest as he saw the most loving and adoring expression on his parents' faces. Their love was so pure and light. Someday Naruto hoped he'd find his significant other and experience exactly what Minato and Kushina were right now. This was something Naruto never thought possible for himself. That is until Minato shed some light on his dark thoughts. He never dreamed nor hoped that one day he'd find someone to love him as much he loved them; but after everything Minato said to him, and watching the whole wedding, and the newly weds, he couldn't help but wonder and dream about it now.

Just as the slow song was ending someone bumped roughly into Naruto. If it weren't for his quick reflexes, Naruto would have gone crashing into the food table. To his surprise it was Kakashi that had run into him. He hadn't seen hide or hair of the jounin for a couple of weeks. Actually, he hadn't seen him since Kakashi agreed to let him stay over at his place for a few days. It had been worrying him for awhile but now that he's finally here in front of him, Naruto suddenly felt happiness overcome him and couldn't help the big smile that took over his face.

"Ah Kakashi it's you! Where have you been?"

Said jounin stiffened briefly and almost reluctantly turned towards the current misery of his existence. He wasn't ready to face the blonde yet. Hell he didn't even have the time to mentally (and emotionally) prepare himself for this wedding. If it hadn't been for Rin pestering him to a dance he wouldn't of run into Naruto just now. He didn't want to disappoint Rin, but he wasn't up to dancing with her when he could see such defeat and sadness swimming in Obito's eyes. He only hoped sooner or later Rin would give up on him and finally see that what she wanted has been right in front of her all this time.

And when he somehow ditched her and got away, he thought he was home free. That is, until he had to collide with his number one problem.

"Oh…hi Naruto. Sorry about that…"

Naruto gave him aanother bright and excited smile. Before he could put a little distance between them Naruto stepped forward and hugged him tightly, as if he hadn't seen him for ages. Well, not that he could blame him. Kakashi had been avoiding the genin for a couple weeks now. And stalking. Yeah he fell back into that habit again but for different reasons this time. He had been trying to see how he'd react to seeing Naruto again after his newfound discovery. And to his dismay, the results only proved what he so much wanted to deny. Just looking at the blonde set him into a flurry of emotions. He couldn't seem to get a firm grip on them, so he avoided Naruto.

Even now Kakashi felt light headed and much too warm with being so close to him. Kakashi couldn't of been more grateful than at that moment that he was a master at hiding his true emotions from ever showing up in his eyes. The mask did wonders too. Finally Naruto pulled away from the jounin, but not by much. He was still much too close for Kakashi's comfort. He tried to think up some excuse quickly to get away from him, but Naruto spoke first.

"You still haven't answered me. Where have you been the past couple of weeks?"

Kakashi froze for half a second but regained his composure swiftly and thought up a quick lie. "I've been rather busy lately with doing a couple of small missions here and there. Even though the war is over, Konoha is still short on man-power and I've been doing what I can for the village."

"Oh I see…" Naruto easily accepted the little white lie Kakashi came up with.

Kakashi nodded and started to inch away. He didn't get far unfortunately.

"Also, I talked to Kushina and Minato about staying at your place. They said they'd love to have a week to themselves so if it's still not any trouble…"

This was the worst. Kakashi could sense that Naruto was nervous and was giving him one last chance to back out. Nervous about what, he wasn't sure. But it just wasn't fair. He wanted to so badly call it off, who knew how their friendship would turn out in only a week. He wasn't ready for this at all and yet…

"No it's no trouble at all. We can even train together too."

A relieved look entered Naruto's eyes but was gone in a flash, but Kakashi could still sensed an edgy vibe coming from him. He brushed it off for now, more concerned and dreading the week ahead of him. A sudden awkward silence fell between them that left Kakashi very uncomfortable. Should he take his leave now? Or stay with Naruto since it was apparent something was actually bothering him. Normally Naruto would be talking his ear off about anything, but instead he silently watched all the other couples dancing together.

A small voice in the back of his head told him that maybe Naruto was acting different than usual because this wedding was bringing up some old memories. Maybe old painful memories. It suddenly occurred to him that he really didn't know anything about Naruto's past aside from the fact that he came from the Grass village. He never bothered with him when they first met, and never had the chance to really get to know him since their friendship was still so new to the both of them. Was he even allowed that privilege yet to ask the blonde such questions on a personal level?

Not only that, but Naruto didn't offer up any information or even tell stories about himself freely on his own. No one ever asked, and he never bothered to bring it up himself. Almost as if that is exactly how he wanted it. It especially didn't help that with Kakashi's newfound feelings, he was getting this burning curiosity to know _everything_ about the genin.

Well privilege or not, it couldn't hurt to start with the simpler questions.

"So Naruto…"

Naruto suddenly snapped out of his gaze to turn his attention to Kakashi, almost forgetting that he was there.

"Yeah?"

"I was just wondering…what were your real parents like?"

Music still played and filled the air for the party-goers, but it fell on deaf ears between Naruto and Kakashi. A heavy silence settled between them and an unreadable look entered Naruto's eyes. Kakashi inwardly cursed, realizing his mistake. He mentally kicked himself in the ass and damned his horrible social skills to hell! Why couldn't he ask about something else? Like his early childhood or something…no that topic wasn't good either. Damn it!

Naruto opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by a mass of red and white. Kakashi quickly realized that it was Kushina who came over to them and was currently hugging and gushing over Naruto, trying to pull the blonde to the center of the floor to dance. The jounin had never been so happy but at that moment to see Kushina. She broke the awkward spell that was between them and brought a smile back to Naruto's face.

As he watched the genin get dragged away by Kushina, Kakashi let out a breathe he hadn't realized he had been holding. Next time he should be more tactful when questioning Naruto about such matters. Though Kakashi had to wonder…if Kushina didn't interrupt when she had, what would Naruto have said? After realizing his thoughtless error, he fully expected Naruto to ignore the question.

While Kakashi mused over the matter, he watched as Naruto struggled to keep himself from tripping over his own feet as he tried to dance. Kushina was having a grand time leading Naruto around the dance floor, trying her hardest to not go into a fit of hysteric laughter at the poor blonde. But despite his failing efforts, Naruto looked like he was in heaven.

Kakashi looked away and came to a decision. As much as he wanted to know everything about Naruto, he wasn't going to push or rush it. He'd let Naruto tell him on his own terms when he was ready. He had countless time with Naruto anyway so it didn't matter.

* * *

><p>The wedding was slowly coming to a close. People were starting to leave and only few others were lingering talking to the bride and groom. Naruto was just about to leave. He had already told Minato and Kushina that he was going to leave with Kakashi now and wished them a happy honey moon. However he couldn't seem to find the elusive jounin.<p>

He hadn't seen him since Kakashi asked him about his '_real_' parents. Even though he didn't have an answer for him, he was still shocked that he asked nonetheless. Why did he suddenly ask him that? Where did that even come from? It wasn't like Kakashi to pry into other people's business without an absolute reason to. He only did that on missions when information was vital for their success.

It made him feel strange. His mind had gone blank and he had no idea what to say. When he looked at him he again he opened his mouth to say something, but had no idea _what_ he was going to say. Thank Kami that Kushina came in when she did. It broke the tension between them and gave Naruto the chance to escape for awhile. He didn't know what to say to Kakashi and only hoped he never asked questions about his past again. It was starting to worry him how people were now taking an interest in his past before he came to Konoha in this time. He made the worst blunder ever when he gave away too much to Minato a few weeks ago. He was still kicking himself in the ass mentally for making such a mistake.

He could only be thankful that Minato didn't push him for more information, but he knew that Minato wanted to know. He would often get these certain looks from Minato, like he really wanted to ask him something but kept it to himself. He sensed that Kushina probably knew since sometimes, Minato would give her a meaningful look when he thought Naruto wasn't paying attention.

He felt guilty. If anyone should know the truth it was them. Minato said he wasn't a monster, but he still didn't know what he _was_. Would he change his mind if he knew? Would they still want him as their son? Would they still…love him? It was these uncertainties that kept him from spilling the truth to them. He didn't want to lose what he had been searching and yearning for all his life. Not now and not ever. But he couldn't keep the truth from them forever. He knew eventually, something was going to cave.

Naruto spotted Kakashi across the room sitting on a chair in a corner with the rest of his teammates. It looked like Obito was trying to convince Rin about something and Kakashi just watched them with a bored look on his face. Naruto started to make his way over to them. When he was half way across the room, Kakashi's eyes turned in his direction and their gazes locked. Naruto faltered slightly in his step but kept going. Something in his gaze made Naruto feel strange, just like before.

Kakashi got up as Naruto stopped in front of them. He greeted them briefly but said his goodnights to them. He hugged Rin and Obito while Kakashi stood behind him waiting. With a final goodbye, Naruto followed Kakashi out and to his house. They were silent on their way there and Naruto couldn't help but think that something felt different. He had a feeling that this week spent with Kakashi was going to change him a lot. And change Kakashi himself too.

.

.

.

.

TBC…

**A/N: Finally things are moving forward again. Again I'm sorry for the late update people! *bows* Forgive me! And by the way…I know I've been a little inactive for a few months but, the site has changed quite a bit! I kinda hate it…I miss the old layout. **

**Not to mention, I guess the rating system is changing too. I've been seeing lots of fanfic writers removing explicit and lemon scenes from their fanfics so it won't get taken down. Should I be seriously worried about this? I rated this fic as M but is that enough? I really don't want to remove the lemon in my other fanfic here. I could make an account on another site like adultfanfiction or something but…it just wouldn't be the same. But I don't want my fic to be removed. I haven't seen any fanfic writers say that any of their works has been removed or anything because of this, they all seem to just be playing it safe. I'm just wondering if this is a serious issue and if I should edit my stuff. **

**It will sadden me…it would definitely defeat the purpose of the rating system too. And it wouldn't be fair either. We put up warnings and ratings because we **_**know**_** that some of the stuff we write is probably not suitable for some people. So it should be that person's job to decide what they want and not want to read. Not complain because it's there. It's like going to a book store and saying "I don't like all these adult novels with all this explicit content! Get rid of it!" **

**That's not fair…But whatever. Life is changing. I can remember when this site was a lot different like 10 years ago. You could find anything and it didn't matter what was in it as long as it was rated properly. So please tell me if you think this is a serious issue and if I should edit lemons out. It'll break my heart but I'll pull through. **

**Thank you for reading everyone and please leave a review! I got so many reviews on my last chapter and I love you all for leaving me one when I was inactive! Thank you so much! **


	12. Chapter 12

**Hello again my wonderful readers! I am back! Been…awhile from my last update and I apologize for that! It's not just school now, I have started a couple other little projects. And someone has asked me to co-write with them which I thought might be interesting and fun. And it certainly was! XD I'll give the info for the fanfic that we did together at the end of this chapter. She published it on her account since it was her idea after all. In the future if we continue to co-write fanfics together, some might be published on my account! But anyway, without further ado, please enjoy the long overdo chapter 12! =D **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I think everyone understands that by now. **

~Come on Closer~

Kakashi woke up groggily as the sun was annoyingly shining down on his exposed face. With a grunt Kakashi sat up in bed and turned his head towards his night stand. He stared at his mask for a moment, recalling why he loved and hated it at the same time.

Immediately he pushed those thoughts out of his head and got up. He grabbed his mask and walked out of his room to go to the bathroom. On his way there he paused at a room only a few feet away from his destination. Naruto was currently sleeping in this room. Kakashi had almost forgotten that.

Last night when they arrived at his house, the air between them felt incredibly tense and awkward. Though it was really all his fault. Naruto had tried unsuccessfully to strike a conversation with him many times, but Kakashi's mind was just too preoccupied with the situation at hand. He couldn't stay focused enough to pay attention to anything that Naruto was saying….or rather he chose not to.

He sighed upon realizing how much of an ass he made himself last night. Purposefully ignoring the blonde because listening to him made him all too aware of him. After many failed attempts at talking with him, Naruto finally caught on that he did not want to talk and quieted down.

The only time Kakashi did speak to him was when they entered his house and Kakashi told him where he could find the kitchen, bathroom, and then the room he'd be staying in. After that he said goodnight to the genin and quickly disappeared into his room.

Replaying his actions from last night had Kakashi breath out in agitation. He hated what was happening to him. No one has ever made him run from their presence before. He didn't fear anything! And he wasn't a genius for nothing either. He should be finding a way to figure out and handle his current situation like a professional ninja. Not running away from his problems.

With a determined nod to himself, Kakashi turned towards Naruto's door to open it. He couldn't run away from Naruto or ignore him the entire time he stayed here. No, the best thing for him was to face Naruto head on, or else he'd never get a hold of his wild emotions. And with time, hopefully he'd move on from this crush that he had with the genin.

Kakashi opened the door to the blonde's room. He was only going to wake him up to start the day and ask him to train. And maybe invite him to ramen later. It was the only thing he could think of as an indirect apology for ignoring the blonde not only from last night, but for the past couple of weeks.

He only took about five steps into the room before coming to an abrupt halt. Naruto laid sprawled out on his bed, the sheets partially kicked off and his shirt riding up, exposing all of his stomach. If it lifted anymore his chest would be exposed too. And as if to tantalize even him more, the sun shined down right onto Naruto's sleeping face. Making his blonde hair, skin, eyelashes, hell, just his whole damn face glow!

Just like that, Kakashi felt his resolve shatter into a million pieces. He inwardly cursed as he felt his face heat up and his stomach tighten itself into knots. No matter how much he wanted or willed himself to, Kakashi could not tear his eyes away. Naruto looked so peaceful and dazzling. So much so that it was almost surreal. It just wasn't fair. Naruto wasn't even awake and already he had Kakashi trapped in a dazed stupor.

Realizing that his plan to ignore his feelings wasn't working so well, Kakashi finally snapped out of his daze and took a step back. Quickly he turned to race out the door but froze when he heard a groan. He turned his head back towards the sleeping genin and immediately regretted it.

Naruto's eyes fluttered opened as he awoke, and squinted from the sunlight assaulting his pupils. With a loud yawn, he lifted his arms up and stretched, arching his whole body slightly. When he adjusted to the light in the room, Naruto opened his eyes fully and the first thing they landed on was Kakashi. Confused, Naruto sat up still staring at the jounin.

"Kakashi? What are you doing here?"

Naruto was met by silence as he stared at the seemingly wide-eyed jounin. Out of the corner of his eyes he noticed this wasn't his room at home. After noticing that, Naruto removed his gaze from Kakashi's rigid form to look everywhere around him. For a few seconds he remained confused, not fully awake yet and therefore not fully aware of his surroundings all together. But it finally came back to him, and he remembered that he was staying with Kakashi.

"Oh…." Was all Naruto could say at the moment. He was a bit embarrassed for momentarily forgetting the arrangements he made with Kakashi. He looked back at him and noticed that the jounin was still staring intently at him, but now with an unreadable expression on his face.

That unwavering gaze was starting to make Naruto feel a bit uncomfortable. So much so that heat started to rise up on his cheeks. The feeling annoyed Naruto because he had no idea what was causing such a reaction, and he felt annoyed with the jounin staring at him like that. He glared at Kakashi.

"Stop staring you bastard! What's your problem?"

Kakashi snapped out of it somewhat and blinked a couple times before looking at Naruto with a bored expression. "I came in here to ask if you wanted to train with me and…maybe go out for ramen later…"

The slight scowl Naruto had on his face immediately disappeared as he perked up at the suggestion. "Oh yeah! I'll be ready in a few minutes!"

Naruto jumped out of bed as Kakashi nodded and quickly left the room.

When Kakashi finally got out of that room he rushed to the bathroom and locked the door behind him. He nearly lost his composure in there. He breathed out a heavy sigh. This was much harder than he thought. Kakashi was beginning to realize the consequences of letting Naruto stay with him.

Kakashi pushed himself from the door and walked over to the shower. He quickly stripped and stepped in and turned on the hot water. He stood unmoving under the stream of water. Slowly his muscles began to relax. But as his body relaxed, his mind remained restless. He couldn't stop thinking of Naruto, and having him so close, living with him in his house, wasn't helping him in the slightest.

The genin wasn't even that far from his room either. Just down the hall. He was so close. So close in a tantalizing way. Kakashi growled in annoyance when he felt a stirring in his groin. He was nearly fifteen, and he was a pervert. He shouldn't even be thinking of such things of his friend! Kakashi cursed under his breath as he turned the water to freezing cold to attempt to cool down his arousal. Hopefully this time it'd work and he wouldn't have to resort to _that_.

* * *

><p>Naruto sat at the kitchen table while munching on some bread. He was too lazy to really make anything for breakfast. The bread was bland, but at least it was filling. Besides, he was more excited about training. He hadn't gotten the chance to do that for awhile, especially with Kakashi!<p>

He slowed in his chewing as he recalled last night. Kakashi had acted so distant with him. The jounin hadn't spoken a word to him after he asked him about his real parents at the wedding. Naruto wondered if that was still on the jounin's mind, or if he was mad at him for not telling him anything.

The genin sighed. He felt guilty. More than anything, Naruto would love to share everything with everyone he knew. Keeping secrets was almost the same as lying to them all. But Naruto couldn't, it was too risky. He already had enough to deal with Minato and Kushina having their suspicions. He didn't need Kakashi added in there too.

Although, Kakashi was a bit nicer this morning. He acted strange…but he was nicer. He even invited him to ramen later! So that must mean that whatever was on Kakashi's mind last night, he got over and moved on.

With a hopeful smile, Naruto finished his slice of bread. He reached for another one when Kakashi walked in. He eyed the jounin for a moment, noting that he still looked to be a bit sluggish before greeting him. All Kakashi did was nod in his direction to show that he at least acknowledged the blonde's presence. He took an apple and leaned against the counter of in the kitchen across from Naruto.

Immediately Naruto felt uncomfortable. Kakashi wasn't even looking at him right now. It was almost like last night all over again! Naruto barely repressed a frustrated growl under his breath at this predicament. It was as if the jounin was having some type of mood swings for fuck's sake!

"What is wrong with you?" Naruto grounded out.

Kakashi looked up in surprise. "What?"

Naruto leveled a glare at the jounin. "I asked what's wrong with you! You've been acting…distant and strange ever since last night!"

"Nothing is wrong with me."

"Yes there is!"

"No, there _isn't_." Kakashi insisted and glared right back at the genin.

Naruto narrowed his eyes into mere slits. It was clear Kakashi wasn't even going to acknowledge something was wrong, let alone tell him about it. But that wouldn't stop him from getting to the bottom of it. He stood up from his seat and marched up to Kakashi, corning him against the counter and glared up at him. At the back of his mind, Naruto cursed at the still visible height difference. He actually started to grow since he was flung into the past but he was still the runt of the litter. Unknowingly that seemed to further his irritation for the jounin.

"You've had a problem with me for awhile. I _know_ you have. You've been acting differently ever since….ever since…" Naruto trailed off as he tried to remember when this had all started. "I…" Naruto started to wilt as he lost his anger to confusion. It even hit him that Kakashi was acting almost the same way he had when Naruto first arrived in the past. Cold and distant. That did anger Naruto and upset him to no end, but this right now…this actually hurt him.

When did everything change so much? He knew something had changed with Kakashi after their last big mission that had stopped the war, but when did Kakashi start to go back to his old ways? Did he do something wrong?

Not only that, but now that Naruto thought about it, it seemed like Kakashi had forced himself to offer training and ramen to him earlier. Naruto took a few steps back from Kakashi and looked at everything but him. "I'm um…gonna head out first." Naruto turned around and rushed towards the door.

"Naruto?" Kakashi called out a little concerned.

"I'll see you later Kakashi!" Naruto turned around and sent him a smile before closing the door.

Kakashi stood there a bit stunned. What just happened? One minute Naruto was up in his face mad as hell, then the next he was backing off like a kicked puppy and ran with his tail between his legs! Kakashi set his unfinished apple on the counter and quickly moved towards the door to follow the blonde but stopped when the door swung open. He blinked in surprise to see his sensei.

"Minato-sensei? What are you doing here? I thought you were on your honeymoon…"

Minato walked in and closed the door behind him and smiled at Kakashi. "Was just checking up on you and Naruto is all. But I saw Naruto run out of here in a rush…"

Minato eyed Kakashi from head to toe suspiciously. "Did something happen?"

He looked away as his shoulders slumped slightly. "I don't know…" Kakashi really wasn't sure what had happened. He sighed and looked back up at his sensei with a lost expression in his eyes. Minato was the only person he would turn to when something trouble him or when something didn't make sense to him. If anything, he needed his sensei's advice now.

Minato stared at the defeated look his student was giving him and smiled reassuringly at him. "Come into the kitchen. I came to check up on you both, but I also wanted to talk to you in private."

Kakashi followed Minato into the kitchen and took a seat at the table across form Minato. He waited patiently for his sensei to speak.

After a few moments of trying to gathering his thoughts, Minato gave up and decided to just plunge in. "Kakashi…I know what's going on with you."

"What do you mean?" Kakashi lifted an eyebrow in question.

Minato stared at Kakashi for a moment. " I mean that I know you're in love with Naruto."

It took a few moments for Kakashi to comprehend what was just said before he immediately sat up straight, a raging blush on his face. "I don't know what you're talking about! I'm not _in love_ with Naruto! That's impossible!"

Minato couldn't help but chuckle a bit at his most stoic student's reaction. He waved a hand to try and calm him down. "There's no reason to deny it. Jiraiya saw this coming a long time ago and had informed me-"

"That bastard foretold this?" Kakashi growled.

A smirk tugged at the corner of Minato's lips. "Yes he did. I didn't believe him at first but after paying close attention to you and Naruto I noticed that it's true."

Kakashi stayed silent and avoided eye contact with his sensei. What was he supposed to say? A proud ninja such as himself suddenly grew feelings for someone who was the complete opposite of him. If someone like Obito had told Kakashi this back when Naruto had first appeared, he would of gutted the Uchiha. Hell he'd even try gutting Minato for saying it! But as much as he wanted to deny it and ignore it, he really did like Naruto. A _lot_. But he shouldn't like Naruto! It was wrong! Wasn't it?

Minato watched his student sit in utter silence. He could practically see the young genius's brain running a mile a minute, thinking too hard on the situation.

"You know at first I didn't like the idea of you having feelings for Naruto."

Kakashi inwardly flinched upon hearing that and stared down at the table.

"I think we can all agree that since Naruto appeared in our lives, he's become a big part of it. Since the moment I saw him, despite all my suspicions of him, I couldn't help but feel drawn to him. Wanting to protect and shelter him, make sure he was happy and healthy. I never played favorites with all of you on my team, but I hate to admit that Naruto has a very special place in my heart." Minato looked down at his hands.

"In a blink of an eye I suddenly became a father figure for Naruto. And Kushina a mother figure. I don't know how it happened, it just did. There are so many unanswered questions, so many suspicions swimming around that boy…but I still have this unwavering amount of faith in him."

Kakashi slowly looked up at his sensei and stared at the man. Everything he was saying Kakashi could agree with. It was scary. Kakashi never trusted people so easily, yet he knew he could trust Naruto without a second thought. He knew Naruto would never betray him, never intentionally hurt him, and would always be there for him. For awhile Kakashi thought himself going crazy for acting so out of character, but he felt comfort in knowing that even his sensei had these doubts, yet still trusted Naruto too.

Minato lifted his head and looked Kakashi right in the eyes. "I regard Naruto as my son now, and because of that all I want to do is protect him from harms way. It doesn't take a genius to see that that boy has suffered in the past. I don't know what happened to him, but I won't let him suffer again. Which is why at first I didn't like the idea of you having feelings…"

His gaze turned hard and stared at Kakashi intently. "Naruto is very naïve. I can see that all he wants is love and acceptance but doesn't know that he already has it. He can't…see and doesn't fully know what it's like to be loved. Kushina and I love him with all our hearts but I don't know if he can truly comprehend that. Or knows just how far we'd go for him. All he knows is that he finally has what he's always wanted, something that he could only dream of having."

Minato sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "And now this is where you come in. Naruto may not fully know what a parent's love is, but he is learning. He's still surprised by the simplest kind gestures we do for him but in time I'm sure he'll understand. The biggest problem is that while he has us, he doesn't believe anyone could love him in a romantic way. I' m still not sure why he feels that way but I have my own theories for that."

He glared up at Kakashi. "I thought about this long and hard Kakashi and while I'm still very wary about this…I don't mind that you have feelings for him. In fact, I'm actually glad that you do. You both need this. You'd be good for each other."

The entire time Kakashi had listened to Minato intently, becoming more and more stunned by what his sensei revealed about Naruto. He had no idea Naruto thought like that. For such a bright and energetic person, why was he like that? With all his thoughts centered on the blonde genin, Kakashi almost didn't hear Minato last words. He looked up at his sensei in confusion.

"What do you mean we both need this?"

Minato smiled a little sadly. "Kakashi…I know this is a very sensitive topic for you but ever since your father's death…you've closed yourself off from everyone. Never letting anyone in or letting them help you. I've done my best for you Kakashi, but I know I can never give you what you want back…"

Kakashi felt his jaw clench and his chest tighten. He hated speaking of his father. It happened so long ago, yet it still hurt so much.

Minato reached out and placed his hand on Kakashi's shoulder in comfort. "I know it's hard, but I'm proud of you."

For a moment Kakashi stared at the table but looked up at his sensei. He didn't understand what he meant by that. "Why…?"

Minato smiled at his student. "I'm proud of you because you've finally begun to change into what you used to be. You were so set on following the rules, even turning your back on your comrades if you thought that it was the only way to complete a mission. I know that is what…some shinobi believe in, but that is not what a true Konoha ninja believes in. Your father was a hero, and I'm proud that you're finally seeing the truth."

Despite his chest hurting, Kakashi couldn't help but smile a little. "Do you think…he would have been proud of me too?"

"Of course he would have been proud." Minato squeezed Kakashi's shoulder before letting go and studied Kakashi for a moment. "But do you know why I think Naruto would be good for you?"

Kakashi thought about it for a couple minutes but slowly shook his head. He was a genius and could always come up with an answer for any difficult question or situation, but this truly stumped him at the moment. He narrowed his eyes in annoyance.

Minato grinned in amusement at the annoyed look. Kakashi may be regarded as a genius, but it seemed that only applied to situations on the battle field. "It's because I think he helped changed you. I think he played a big part in it. I found out everything that happened during that mission when I wasn't present. I know what you had said to Naruto. I know what Naruto and Obito said to you before taking off. Obito played a part in it as well, yet somehow you made a much stronger connection with Naruto."

Kakashi had never thought about it in that sense, but he slowly realized that he had started changing after that mission. Obito and Naruto had really opened his eyes. He was now good friends with Obito and was quite happy with their found friendship. He never thought he'd think Naruto as something more than just a friend though. Kakashi shook his head.

"Even so, I'm trying to move past these…feelings I have. I can't help Naruto the way you want me too."

Minato raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Why are you trying to do that?" He grinned. "You do realize it isn't that simple if you truly care and love him you know."

Kakashi scowled. "Yes I know it's not that simple! And I'm doing it because it's wrong! I can't afford to be distracted and have a weakness. I may of started changing, but I don't feel comfortable having such strong feelings for another person. It's happening too fast."

Minato nodded, understanding where Kakashi was coming from. "I see your point but you're missing the bigger picture here. You think that having these feelings will make you weak, but in fact they'll make you into a much stronger person. When you have someone you love, someone especially precious to you, they make you into the strongest you can ever hope to be."

"That can't possible be true. Only hard work and training makes you strong."

Minato frowned and stared at his student in disappointment. "It isn't just skill and training that makes you strong Kakashi, I taught you better than this."

Kakashi glared at Minato, his words stung. "I take all of your lessons to heart sensei but I don't see how any of the is true."

Minato sighed. "How about an example. You are strong Kakashi, very strong. But back during our last mission you were heavily injured. All of you were injured. You really wouldn't of had a chance of winning if it weren't for brilliant planning, and the determination to protect your teammates. You would of gone off on your own to buy them all time to escape. While your plan would of worked you would of died. But since you and Naruto worked together, both fighting for each other and your fallen teammates, you made it out alive."

For a long few minutes Kakashi thought about that and slowly realized that…Minato had a bit of a point. Truly speaking, the outcome during that mission should of resulted in all of their deaths. He looked up at Minato.

"That may be true but…we would of all died either way afterwards if you hadn't shown up."

Minato smiled. "True…but then what I just said works for me as well. I had a nagging feeling the entire time I left you four alone. So I rushed back and somehow made it just in time. When you have someone or something important to you, something precious, there's absolutely nothing that can stand in your way when you want to protect it."

Kakashi lowered his eyes and thought about what his sensei said. So it wasn't bad to like someone? It went against all the rules and principles he stood by in the past and…Kakashi stopped. No, all of that was in the past now. Since his eye surgery and everyone's frequent visits to him at the hospital, Kakashi had made a decision. He would never put a mission over his friends lives again. He'd never abandon them again. For everything, he had to look underneath the underneath and see beyond what the rules stated. Ninja's were never suppose to show their emotions or feelings, but Minato firmly believes it is what makes you stronger. Maybe that was why his beloved sensei was so strong in his own right.

A smile tugged at the corner of Minato's lips as he watched realization dawn on Kakashi. Since he passed his team he had always tried to instill in them all of his beliefs and make room for them to make their own adjustments of said beliefs. He never wanted his students to become emotionless husks with no mind of their own, no free will. It was what made Konoha shinobi so unique. They all had the will of fire passed down on them in some way or another. Kakashi was the hardest for Minato to get through to, but it seems like Kakashi finally understood.

"Do you see it now? Bending or breaking the rules won't slow you down and having feelings for someone won't make you weaker. It'll only make you smarter and stronger."

Kakashi slowly nodded. Minato smiled and stood up. "Good. Now I think you should go find Naruto. I don't know what's going on between you too, but you should fix it as soon as possible."

Kakashi flinched and hurriedly stood up. "But I don't know what I did wrong! He was so mad at me and just suddenly grew quiet with this look of misery on his face and took off…"

"Well maybe it's because he's realized what you've been doing. It may of taken Naruto awhile to figure it out, but I know you've been avoiding him for awhile. He probably thinks you hate him in some way."

It felt like freezing cold water was just thrown on him. Kakashi stiffened. It was his fault that Naruto took off and ran like that. How in the world is he going to fix this?

Minato patted Kakashi on the shoulder. "Don't beat yourself too much over it. You may of screwed up this time, but he is a very forgiving boy. But when you approach him about how you feel you had better do it right. He's fragile in that sense."

"How am I suppose to do this then…" He looked up at Minato feeling frustrated. "I've never liked someone this way before and I like Naruto _a lot._" Kakashi sort of felt a weight lifted from his shoulders for finally admitting that out loud and to someone. He relaxed a bit. "You said so yourself he doesn't know what it's like either…"

Minato shrugged and smiled apologetically. "I truly don't know what you can do about it. All I can say is be honest with him and show him what it's like to be loved and cherished by someone." He pat Kakashi on the shoulder before squeezing it tightly. "Just don't screw up." He grinned maliciously down at Kakashi, letting him know he'd be after the young jounin if he did anything to hurt Naruto.

Kakashi shuddered slightly and watched his sensei take his leave. He sighed and left the house too to search for Naruto. It didn't take long to find him, the blonde was already at the training grounds. He watched the genin train vigorously for a few minutes. After another few minutes of admiring the blonde, Kakashi took a deep breath and came out of hiding. Immediately Naruto noticed his presence and turned around.

"Oh Kakashi…what are you doing here?"

"To train, what else?"

Naruto glared at Kakashi and turned back to his training. "Don't train with me if you really don't want to. And don't say things you don't mean either!"

Kakashi inwardly sighed but walked up to Naruto and grabbed his arm. Naruto tried to shake him off. "Let go!"

"Listen Naruto…I'm sorry."

Naruto stopped struggling and looked up at Kakashi surprised, then looked away and bit his lip. "Look you don't have to apologize or anything. I-"

"No I do. I've been purposefully avoiding you for the past couple weeks and was horrible in ignoring you last night as well."

Naruto's face darkened slightly at hearing that. He wrenched his arm out of Kakashi's grasp and glared at him. "I never knew you were the type of person to do that to people. If you hate me then just say it! I'm used to people not liking me and all, but don't _pretend_ to like me! That's even worse!"

Realizing his blunder Kakashi paled. "No that's not true, I don't hate you at all-"

"Then why were you avoiding me huh?! Why are you so nice to me sometimes?! I thought we were friends, I thought we were finally past our differences from when I first got here!"

Kakashi really had no idea what to say to the blonde to get him to believe him at this point. He was horrible in his social skills and he doubted Naruto would believe anything he said right now. He sighed feeling his chest constrict in pain at the thought of Naruto hating him.

"I'm sorry…I really truly am. I've never had an actual friend before. You are one of the first friends I've ever made." Kakashi looked away in guilt. "You on the other hand have a ton of friends and precious people. I must be one of the worst friends you've ever had…"

Naruto didn't say anything. Kakashi seemed to be very sincere in his apology but…that still didn't explain why Kakashi ignored him for so long. He didn't understand. But he still valued Kakashi's friendship almost more than anything.

"Well…not the worst…"

Kakashi looked back at Naruto with a small amount of hope blooming in his chest.

"But I still don't understand _why_ you avoided me. Why did you?" Naruto turned his questioning gaze on the jounin.

Kakashi felt like ripping his hair out. What was he suppose to say? He could always go with the straight out truth. I'm in love with you and being near you makes me feel like there's an abundance of butterflies in my stomach, not to mention I've already had quite a few arousing dreams and fantasies of you. It's getting to be too much that he just can't stand it.

He could do that…or he could water it down a bit. Could he actually admit that he was in love with Naruto? Kakashi thought about it for a few moments and decided…no he couldn't say it. At least not the _love_ part.

Kakashi swallowed thickly, his throat suddenly feeling dry. He didn't have any other option, he just wished he felt more prepared for this…

"I avoided you because…I like you. I like you _a lot_."

For a few moments, Kakashi felt relieved. He never knew getting that kind of confession off your chest could feel so good. But it was short lived because Naruto still hadn't said a word, the blonde was just staring at him confused.

"You like me?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi could only nod his head weakly. He was a jounin for Kami's sake, why did he feel so weak in the knees at the moment?!

Naruto tilted his head. "That's a weird reason to avoid me. I like you a lot too!" Naruto's eyes widened and he suddenly grinned. "Oh I get it! You said it yourself, you've never had a real friend before and you like me a lot as a friend! You didn't know how to act!"

Kakashi. Felt. Like. Dying. Naruto liked him, but not the same way he liked the blonde! Naruto didn't like him the way he wanted him too. And to top it off, he misunderstood him to boot! It wasn't exactly a rejection but it sure as hell still felt like one. Kakashi visibly deflated as he watched Naruto laugh at himself for 'misunderstanding' Kakashi. Ohhh he misunderstood him alright. But he misunderstood the misunderstanding!

What an idiot. What an adorable idiot Naruto was. Kakashi was starting to question how exactly he fell for the baka. But as he watched Naruto's mood brighten and become happier, Kakashi decided to let this slide. Minato did say Naruto was naïve and didn't know what true romantic love was or felt like, so he definitely had his work cut out for him. Once he worked up the nerve, Kakashi would try to tell Naruto how he felt again.

"Sorry about all that Kakashi. I never took your situation into account, I just jumped to conclusions." Naruto grinned at him apologetically. "But anyway let's spar! I'm so gonna kick your ass today!"

Without waiting for a response Naruto took off to the center of the training field and shouted for Kakashi to hurry up. Kakashi scowled at the ground for his misfortunes, but followed Naruto to the center of the field and they began their spar. For hours they trained and then spared a little more. Around noon they stopped and went out for ramen.

The whole time Kakashi tried to think of ways to introduce affection and romance to Naruto. To throw hints at him, to indirectly show how much he really liked Naruto. But he had a feeling if he threw hints, it'd go right over the genin's head. Then it suddenly dawned on him and Kakashi inwardly groaned. The best way to go about it was to be as blunt as possible. But he didn't think he had the nerve to tell Naruto he _loved_ him yet.

Out of the corner of his eye he watched as Naruto devoured his third bowl of ramen and smirked. He didn't necessarily have to voice anything to Naruto. He could just show the blonde. When they were done eating they started walking back to the training grounds. Half way there Kakashi stopped.

"Hey Naruto."

Naruto stopped too and turned towards Kakashi. "Yeah?"

Kakashi hesitated for only a second before willing himself to do it. "I have a small…gift for you."

Naruto's eyes brightened and he smiled. "A gift? Really? Where is it, where is it?!"

Kakashi eye smiled at Naruto. "It's a surprise so I need you to pull your headband down over your eyes for a few seconds."

"Can't I just close my eyes?"

"No, I need to make sure you won't peek."

Naruto pouted but complied. He pulled his headband over his eyes and waited. For a moment Kakashi stood there, his stomach and chest tightening, yet fluttering all at the same time. He stepped closer towards Naruto and looked down at him.

Those enticing lips were still pouting impatiently. Suddenly Kakashi didn't feel so nervous anymore. He loved Naruto and he was going to make him realize this. Kakashi pulled down his mask. He lifted a hand to Naruto's face and caressed it for a second before grabbing the tip of his chin and tilting his head up. He leaned down and pressed his lips to Naruto's.

It felt even sweeter than he imagined.

.

.

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**TBC…**

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I am SOOOO sorry this took months to get updated. I've just been so busy, got carried away with other things, not to mention a serious case of writer's block. It's like...I knew what I wanted to happen, but not how to get around to it. ****And that's not the only thing that turned me off. Fucking Kishimoto. Way to really fuck up the the anime and make it a hundred times more complex than it needs to be! I am so damn pissed right now. I have been for days whenever the subject of Naruto came up. **

**I'm not going to spoil, but my God. I wanted this fic to fit the manga but that's so not going to happen now lmao. Kishimoto literally screwed me over. I'm sure this ain't a spoiler but…YES fucking Obito is Madara. Well...he sorta is. He like works for the real Madara but I'm still pissed about it! You have NO IDEA how god dam pissed I am about that. One of my favorite characters turned out to be working for fucking Madara. Sorry for all the swearing but I truly am pissed. So now I gotta clear stuff up for this fic I guess. **

**Well, there's no way I'm going to delve that deeply into the Naruto canon verse. This is strictly KakaNaru goodness. I did want to fit it as well as I could to the original timeline, and I will still try too! But bare with me here. In this fic, Obito is NOT going to be Madara. Madara is still some mysterious person we don't know here. He's still the villain, is part of the reason Naruto got sent back in time, and is NOT Obito. Yes I know, Obito is still alive in my fic, I'll get to that lol I'm moving at a snails pace here. **

**But I'm still pretty upset with how everything is going. Naruto is still good it's just that…way too much is going on. I feel like Kishimoto is trying too hard to throw all these curveballs at us. And while…yeah it is surprising and catches me off guard, it still upsets me. I don't know, maybe it's just me all worked up about it and all. But to me, from the very start of Naruto I loved how strong friendship, camaraderie, and believing in yourself and fighting for what you think is right was emphasized. It's suppose to be about Naruto and Sasuke and what will happen to them and then the village in the end. Now…there's all these back stories and subplots going on. I don't know, I guess I'm mad cause I feel like it's losing the focus that I want it to be. I'm sure it'll go back to Naruto and Sasuke eventually but my god why so damn complex now! **

**Okay, okay, ranting aside. I finally got this chapter out and finally Kakashi has accepted his feelings for Naruto. YAAAY! I'm really happy I got to that point lol And the kiss at the need, was thrown in there last minute. I was going to save that for the next chapter but was like "…naaah I'll add it in here." **

**Oh and the fanfic that I co-wrote is called **_**Unrequited**_**. I wrote it with this chick called TwistedEnvisage. She's cool, really nice. Has some other great fanfics as well! So just search her up and you'll find the fanfic on her account if you're interested lol **

**But anyway, again I am so very sorry this took so long. I'll try to make the next update as soon as possible! I promise it won't take months on end for t he next one lol Pinky swear! But anyway I hope everyone enjoyed it. Please leave me a review annnnd Happy Valentine's day! (even though it already passed…lol) **


	13. Chapter 13

**Guess who's back sooner than you all probably expected! That's right. Moi! ;D Yes, yes it's been a couple months since my last update but hey! That's way better than last time when I hadn't updated in like…five…six months? Sorry…e.e But anyway I'm trying to decide if I want to update once a month or alternate updating this with my other fanfic. (I know I promised I wouldn't write anything else but, I never expected this fanfic to take so long or be dragged out x-x) I'm definitely going to try alternating it so long as other things don't get in the way. **

**Besides, updating my other fanfic also helps to motivate me to jump on this one too and vice versa. Since I'm so busy with school and junk I sorta lose my drive to update as soon as possible. But after I update for one chapter, I still have a little juice left over to continue on for my other fanfic. And afterwards it helps me to get started again, my old ideas come flooding back and I can write again lol **

**Honestly, you don't know how badly I want to finish this fanfic since I've had this one going for…more than a year now. (Wow I suck. But not as bad as some who keep theirs going for years! I'd never be able to do that lol) I can't say how many more chapters I have left to write cause I don't measure it in that sense. All I can say is that…I believe I'm a little bit past the half way point now. Cause I do want to start other fanfics but having two multi-chapter fics going at the same time is already enough for me as it is. **

**Not to mention it hurts me seeing my first fanfic still unfinished! Still so much I want to write for it! Still so much to do. Though I'm freaking determined to finish this fic lol I put up a prank on my other fanfic too on April Fool's Day. I basically put up an author's note saying I was discontinuing the fanfic. Course I was only joking but jeesh, the feedback I got on that not only had me laughing my evil butt off, but feeling bad too x-X Some of them were heart-broken at first, truly believing I had abandoned the fic. **

**I've already promised them, and now I'll promise you, I won't abandon any of my fics, especially this one cause it's my very first fic. I truly want to finish them. Sure sometimes it might take me an ungodly amount of time to update again, but I'll always come back to update and one day finish it. **

**But anyway! Thank you all for your wonderful reviews and support. Enjoy chapter 13! ;) **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. (I'm like seriously running out of ideas for this here lmao. Anyone wanna give me suggestions?) **

~Come on Closer~

_Dark. It was so dark. Just moments ago it was brighter. Everything was as it should be. Minato-sensei was smiling at them, awarding him for being promoted to jounin. Rin was congratulating him too and gave him a medical gift. _

_Then there was Obito. He hadn't given him a gift though. It didn't matter. Anything Obito could of given him would have been useless. He was ready to take off but stopped. There was one more person. They held out a gift to him. _

_Carefully taking it, he unwrapped it to see that it was…_

_It was dark. Rin was captured. Obito wanted to go after to her. He stopped Obito, telling him they had to complete the mission. Rin's life was not top priority. _

_"Screw the mission! Even if the security is still increased we'll still have a chance of completing it, but we won't ever have the chance to save Rin again if we don't go now! We don't know if they will keep Rin alive just for that!"_

…_This wasn't Obito. This person wasn't of Konoha. No, this person was a traitor. They didn't belong there. They were scum! They were-_

"_You're despicable. Your father was a better shinobi than you could ever be." _

_He ran off, and it was just him and Obito. But even he left. _

"_Those who break the rules and regulations are regarded as scum….but…those who abandon their comrades….are worse than scum! **** and I are going to be trash anyway, so we choose to break the rules to do what's right."_

_How right they were…he was the true scum…_

_It was dark._

_Just moments ago both Rin and Obito were by his side. But someone was missing. They were running…everything was coming down on them. An unbearable pain was present in his left eye. He fell when a huge rock hit him on his blind side. It should of ended there for him, until Obito rushed to his side and threw his body out of the way. _

_He was safe, but Obito never got out of the way in time. It wasn't until that moment that he realized how much Obito truly meant to him. They could have been best friends. If only he had another chance…_

_He was fine. At the last moment, someone jumped in and saved Obito. The relief that he felt was incredible and yet…this wasn't right. That wasn't how it was supposed to be…_

"_We're a team, and if we're going to die, then we'll die together!"_

_Why did these words comfort him? Why did this person make him feel that everything would turn out alright…_

_It was bright. For once it was bright….and he wasn't alone. The one who saved Obito was with him. _

"_Since you now accept me as a Konoha shinobi that means you've accepted me as your friend too!"_

_Friend? He never had a true friend before…he did want to try being Obito's friend though. But this guy…_

_"Oh, and that means you think I'm a worthy opponent too doesn't it! I will defeat you this time, dattebayo!"_

_Dattebayo…_

Kakashi's eyes slowly opened and stared up at his ceiling. What an odd dream he had. Kakashi sat up in bed. He lifted a hand to his face and touched his left eye for a moment. That dream…it wasn't truly a dream. They were memories. His memories. But something didn't seem quite right about them.

Kakashi didn't know how long he sat in his bed. A couple minutes or an hour? He wasn't sure. He just knew he had been trying to figure out what was missing in his memories.

A knock on his window drew Kakashi out of his musing. He looked over and saw an anbu black op sitting outside on the window sill. The anbu nodded his head towards him and disappeared.

"Looks like the Hokage is summoning me. I wonder what for."

Kakashi got up from bed and quickly got himself ready. He left quickly and arrived at the Hokage tower a few minutes later. He knocked on the door and waited for permission to enter.

"Come in."

Kakashi opened the door and stood before the Hokage. "Good morning Hokage-sama. Did you need something?"

Sarutobi looked at Kakashi utterly shocked. He looked at the clock on the other side of the room then back at the man in front of him.

"Kakashi…you're here early."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Did you wish to see me later? I thought you wanted to see me right away."

Sarutobi quickly shook his head. "No, no that's not it, it's just…" He looked the jounin up and down, his eyebrows creasing in concern. "Are you feeling alright? It really isn't like you to show up on time."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "I'm fine Hokage-sama. And what does my being early have anything to do with that?"

For a few minutes, Sarutobi silently scrutinized Kakashi until it finally hit him. "Kakashi…you're losing your memories…"

Kakashi stared at the older man in confusion for a few minutes, not understanding until it struck him. A distraught look overcame the jounin's face as he sat down heavily in the chair in front of the Hokage's desk. Sarutobi eyed the man with concern.

"Kakashi…how much do you remember?"

At first Kakashi didn't answer, not sure on what to say. After a few minutes he looked up at the Hokage. "There were three people on my old team right?"

Sarutobi put his pipe in his mouth. "Yes. There was Rin, Obito, and Minato of course. At least you remember them."

"No…there was someone else. Minato-sensei was our team leader. I want to know the three people who were on the team under Minato-sensei."

"Three…?" Sarutobi furrowed his eyebrows. "That can't be right Kakashi. Under Minato, it was just you, Rin, and Obito. All of you were apart of Team Minato. No one else was assigned to that team."

Kakashi sat back in his chair frustrated. "I'm sure there was one more person! The last person wasn't assigned to the team in the beginning, they were assigned…afterwards."

For awhile nothing was said. The Third Hokage stared at Kakashi carefully, wondering on how to approach this delicate situation. After a few more minutes he sighed wearily.

"Kakashi I requested your presence today just to check up on the mental state of your mind. But it seems…" Sarutobi looked at Kakashi in interest, "you've started gaining some knowledge that you've never had before. Perhaps just fragments of new memories are forming. Tell me, do you remember what happened to you and your team in the Third Shinobi War?"

Kakashi 's eyes narrowed as he thought about that for a moment. He didn't like that some new memories were starting to cloud over his real ones. "Minato-sensei put me in charge. And then Rin was captured…I wanted to continue on with the mission but Obito and…" he trailed off.

"Obito and?" Sarutobi asked.

Kakashi shook his head. "I'm sure someone else was there with us on that mission. They had said something to me before running after the ninja who captured Rin."

"_You're despicable. Your father was a better shinobi than you could ever be." _

"Then Obito left. He left after teaching me the most important lesson of my life."

Kakashi shifted in his seat in discomfort. "I went after them, tossing everything I believed in to the wind and found Obito being attacked. I protected him and…and lost my left eye." He brought a hand up to his left eye that was covered by his headband and went silent.

Even though it was a bit off with Kakashi saying there was one more person, Sarutobi slowly nodded, understanding that this part of his past was painful. "It seems that more of the important details of your past are still intact. You lost your left eye, and shortly after Obito died, thus giving you his sharingan."

"No. Obito survived."

Sarutobi's eyes widened for a moment. "That can't be right-" He stopped when he remembered the state of Kakashi's left eye right now. It was as normal as could be. "Actually…you're probably right. It would explain why you no longer have the sharingan in your left eye."

For a moment Kakashi looked hopeful. "Do you think…he's still alive? Somewhere he's actually alive? Or maybe that has yet to have happened…"

Sarutobi blew out a puff of smoke while he remembering the discussion they had with Koenma. He mentioned that things were changing, however slow they were. The physical changes happened before anyone's memories were altered. Perhaps Obito was really alive? Could he be somewhere, unaware of what has happened?

"I don't know. If that were possible, then Obito could be wandering around…or he hasn't physically appeared yet. Who's to know how time is working now."

Kakashi sighed. Even if there was a chance Obito was still alive, he didn't want to get his hopes up. It would only hurt if those hopes were denied. Still, Kakashi couldn't help but feel relieved.

"Well, either way, it doesn't seem like I've lost my memories completely. It just seems that they're being altered."

Sarutobi nodded his head. "Indeed. So far the changes don't look as bad as we first thought they'd be. But we still can't think that everything will still turn out alright. The longer Naruto stays in the past, the bigger the chance that he'll do or say something that will drastically change everything."

"Last time we spoke with Koenma, you had the anbu escort him to that 'new' old battle site. Was it confirmed?"

"It was." Sarutobi rifled through some folders in his desk drawer before taking out one and handed it to Kakashi. "This is the mission report that Bear wrote of that mission. They especially observed these claw marks that Koenma mentioned. Bear and his squad all validated that they were made by a jinchuuriki."

Kakashi's eye widened. "So Naruto really must be stuck in the past. More specifically, during the Third Shinobi War."

"It appears so." The Sandaime let out a weary sigh and almost sagged in his chair. "Of course Naruto would end up during that time. I can only hope he's not messing up major events."

The two sat in a tense silence, both thinking of the damage the little genin could be doing. Kakashi looked up at the Third Hokage.

"How are we going to bring him back?"

Sarutobi rubbed at his temples. "That's still being worked out. Naruto was sent into the past by a jutsu done by one of Madara's minions. Well, I have the anbu out investigating. They also returned to the last place Naruto was seen with your team and are trying to track down the ninja that got away that day. Perhaps they can perform the same jutsu. If we can get our hands on that knowledge, then there must be a way to reverse it somehow and bring Naruto back."

Kakashi slowly nodded. "Is there anything I can do?"

The Sandaime looked at Kakashi in slight concern. "No, I'd prefer it if you stayed within the village for awhile. At least until this whole mess is fixed. There's no telling how else your memories, or even you yourself will be altered."

With an irritated sigh Kakashi nodded in understanding. "Fine. If that is all Lord Hokage, I think I'll head on home."

"Yes, yes, that's all. I'll call for you again if anything comes up. I'll be sure to let you know." Sarutobi raised his hand in a dismissive manner.

Kakashi stood up and bowed slightly to the Hokage. He took out his signature Icha Icha book and walked towards the door but stopped when he heard Sarutobi sigh.

"Honestly Kakashi, you make yourself look like a disgrace reading that in public. Save it for when you're at home. What even got you into my old student's pornographic writing anyway?"

Kakashi shrugged, not exactly sure how he got into reading these books when a memory flashed through his head. A memory of someone giving him the very first edition of the Icha Icha series. Suddenly a warm, fluttery feeling welled up inside his chest. He couldn't exactly remember who it was that gave him this book, but the person must have been very special to him. They had to be with this amount of affection he was suddenly feeling.

He eye smiled. "I don't remember. But this book has more sentimental feelings behind it rather than the fact I like to read it from time to time."

With a quick hand sign, Kakashi poofed out of the Hokage's office and landed on the street outside of the Hokage tower. He began to walk home while reading the very first book to the Icha Icha series.

* * *

><p>Naruto remembered when he had his first kiss. Actually, he remembered how his first kiss was <em>stolen<em>. He had been so devastated that day. Of all the people, it had to be Sasuke. A guy no less! It took him awhile, but he eventually told himself that while his first kiss was soiled by the teme, he could still make his second kiss something special.

How damn wrong he was. When Kakashi asked him to pull his headband down over his eyes, he was expecting a really, really cool kind of gift. Like an all you can eat ramen coupon!

A kiss was definitely not what he was expecting.

The feel of Kakashi's lips against his shocked him so hard that he couldn't move right away. His lips were soft, and warm. His jaw slackened. Naruto had no idea what to do. He wanted to jump away, yell his little enraged heart out, and possibly even whack Kakashi in the head. But his body was frozen on the spot.

It wasn't until a sudden bite and a lick to his bottom lip, that had an intense heat ignite in his lower belly, that caused him to suck in a breath and stumble backwards as Kakashi finally pulled away.

Naruto quickly ripped off his forehead protector, eyes wide as he saw Kakashi just pull up that damn mask of his, a rather satisfied glint in the jounin's eyes. Naruto felt his face flush with embarrassment.

"What the hell was that?!"

Kakashi eyed the small genin, feeling incredibly elated over what just happened. His eyes fell back on Naruto's slightly swollen lips. The sight made him lick his own lips, a smirk forming.

"_That_ was your gift. A kiss if you want it more specifically."

Naruto's blush intensified. "W-What kind of gift was that! How could you steal my second kiss you bastard!"

"…Second…kiss?" A very dark cloud began to loom over the jounin's head. So that right there…wasn't Naruto's first kiss? Someone _else_ beat him to it?

Quickly realizing his slip up, Naruto's hands flew up to his mouth. "I-I mean, it's not what it seems really-I don't even really consider that to be my first kiss, in fact it was even an accident! So it can't really count ehehehe…" Naruto laughed nervously.

It didn't matter if it was an accident to Kakashi. Someone else's lips were on Naruto's and to him, they stole Naruto's first kiss from the Hatake. He wanted to be the first. Especially since that was Kakashi's first kiss!

"Who was it?"

Naruto blinked. "What?"

"Who _was_ it?" Kakashi's eyes narrowed.

"Oh well uh…" Naruto looked at everything that wasn't the jounin in front of him. He grinned sheepishly, "It's not really important who it was. It was only-"

"Naruto…"

The dangerous tone in Kakashi's voice started to make Naruto sweat. The small amount of killer intent wasn't helping either. Usually, Naruto would be as stubborn as a mule and not budge on the matter, but the death glare he was receiving from Kakashi was enough to make him break a little. He huffed and crossed his arms across his chest.

He never liked revealing anything about his…"past" but it wasn't like he was revealing anything crucial. Well, the only crucial thing was his pride at having to admit this but if it'd get Kakashi off his back then screw it!

"You're making such a big deal. It was from my old teammate alright?"

Kakashi's eyes widened. His old teammate? Kakashi had almost forgotten that Naruto wasn't originally from Konoha, even though sometimes it felt like he had been part of the village the whole time. Kakashi's eyes went dull. He suddenly felt hurt and…an irritating bout of jealousy. Why couldn't Naruto have been born in Konoha? Why couldn't the genin have gone to the academy with all of them. Why couldn't _he_ have grown up with Naruto and been apart of the same team.

He looked off to the side and clenched his fists. "Do…do you miss them?"

Naruto was caught off guard by the sudden turn the conversation took. He bit his lip. He didn't want to discuss anything about his old team. He didn't like thinking about it. He just wanted to live in the here and now. His life was so much better here. The people treated him like an actual human being, they smiled at him when he walked down the streets, he had so many people that accepted him, he even had parents now! He didn't care if they were just his adoptive parents, he still saw them as his parents all the same.

And yet…

"Yeah…I do sometimes."

He couldn't explain it. He just knew that somewhere deep inside of him, he missed everyone back in his real time.

Kakashi glanced over at Naruto, his eyes hardened. "Is it because of that teammate you kissed?"

Naruto's eyes flew wide open as his jaw dropped. "What?! Didn't you hear me before? It was an accident! There's no way I'd miss that bastard for that! I'd never like him! He was just my rival!"

A sense of relief hit Kakashi like a ton of bricks. It felt so good. He lifted an eyebrow in amusement. "Your rival? Then how in the world did you end up kissing your own rival?"

Naruto's face went up in flames, remembering that incident all too clearly. "Well uh…you see I, well I was-we were GAH! What does it matter! What I want to know is why you kissed me!" Naruto threw a livid glare at the jounin and pointed at him accusingly in a dramatic fashion.

Kakashi eye smiled at the genin. Sure he still felt nervous and giddy around Naruto, he was still riding on that high he got from sharing that kiss with him, but he couldn't help the smugness that came with it.

"It should be obvious enough." He walked past Naruto and headed back towards the training grounds. Naruto was quick to follow him.

"What do you mean it should be obvious?"

Kakashi cast Naruto a side glance, a small look of exasperation in his eyes, but it quickly turned into something else that Naruto couldn't place.

"If that wasn't obvious enough for you, then I guess I'll have to try a little harder."

Naruto frowned and stared at Kakashi in confusion. Kakashi snorted at the perplexed look Naruto was giving him and playfully punched him in the shoulder.

"Come on, lets get in some more training in before we go home."

A grin blossomed on Naruto's face. Now that he could understand enough. Training was very straightforward to him. Why couldn't Kakashi make everything as simple as training?

"Alright!" Naruto cheered. "While we train there's something I wanna try out that I begged Minato-sensei to teach me!"

Kakashi lifted an eyebrow in interest. "And what might that be?"

Naruto grinned foxily. "The Hiraishin!"

* * *

><p>Kakashi had to admit…when Naruto told him Minato-sensei was teaching him how to do the Hiraishin, he thought he was joking. But here Naruto was, trying to attempt transfer form point A to point B in a blink of an eye with a seal he made him self. A very sloppily made seal.<p>

After an hour of a vigorous sparring session, he and Naruto had started training in their own separate things. While Naruto was failing at learning the Hiraishin, Kakashi was trying to perfect his chidori. Even though Minato was dead on about the jutsu being to dangerous for him to fully execute, he didn't want to give up. There had to be some way he could use it.

With the last bit of his chakra, Kakashi charged up his chidori again, but fell to his knee. He felt exhausted. Panting, Kakashi released the jutsu. His body sagged and he gave out a frustrated sigh. This wasn't working out at all. No matter how hard he tried, he still had tunnel vision when he tried to execute the jutsu. It left him completely vulnerable. The more he thought about it, the more he realized this type of jutsu would be more suited for an Uchiha. With their sharingan they wouldn't have tunnel vision.

Kakashi's body slumped against a target post. He didn't want to admit defeat just yet. Though the more he thought about it, the more he realized that it might be best to teach Obito the jutsu. There was no reason for the Chidori to go to waste, it had to be used by someone. And if he couldn't find a way to master it…then he'd want at least one of his closest friends to master it.

With a sigh Kakashi stood up and called out to Naruto. "Oi! Let's head back to the house, it's nearing dinner time."

Kakashi faintly grinned at the loud groan coming from the blonde's direction. Despite his spirits being down, Naruto's presence cheered him up a little bit.

"It's not that late, you sure we can't stay for another hour or something?" Naruto asked as he ran up to Kakashi.

Kakashi looked up at the sky to squinted at the position the sun was in. After a moment he shrugged. "Well I guess another hour is fine. But I'm going to head back. You can stay for however long you want, I'll put your plate aside for when you get back if you want."

"Really? Thanks Kakashi!"

Kakashi eye smiled at Naruto and turned to leave. The second he moved his leg, a sharp pain shot up through his body, paralyzing him for a few moments.

"Kakashi?"

His vision started tog et blurry and the ground swayed before him. Before he knew it, he was on the cold ground, loosing consciousness. The last thing he heard was Naruto's frantic yelling.

"Kakashi!"

* * *

><p>A throbbing pain was the first thing Kakashi felt as he came to. With some difficulty he opened his eyes and squinted. The first thing he noticed was that he was in his room. Kakashi tried to sit up but quickly laid back down with a groan. His whole body ached. What the hell happened to him?<p>

Just then his door was opened and Naruto walked in. "Kakashi! You're awake!"

Naruto carried in a tray of food with him and set on his bedside table. "How are you feeling?"

"Awful. What happened?"

Naruto frowned at this. "Well I'm not surprised I guess. You collapsed from chakra exhaustion two days ago after training. You pushed yourself too hard."

"Oh…" Kakashi remembered now. He couldn't believe he collapsed. He knew he had used up nearly all of his chakra reserves, but he didn't think it would turn out like that! So that was it then. He'd never be able to master the chidori.

"Hey, why do you look so depressed? What's wrong Kakashi?" Naruto sat on the bed, facing the jounin.

Kakashi sighed and looked away. "Nothing. I've just…realized something."

Naruto cocked his head to the side. "Realized what? Is it because of what happened after training? There's nothing to be upset about you know. I used to collapse from chakra exhaustion a lot too back then. I always pushed myself over the limit! Even when no one was there to help me up when I fell…I still got up and kept going. I never gave up."

Kakashi stared at Naruto. "You were alone back in your old village weren't you. You didn't have anyone?"

"I…well…" Naruto bit his lip. "I was alone…but I did have some people who cared about me. So I guess I wasn't always on my own, they just weren't always there when I needed them the most."

Like Iruka, and the Hokage, and the more he thought about it, Kakashi-sensei too. He smiled faintly. After a moment Naruto blinked, realizing he had spaced out. "Anyway, I just think you shouldn't give up."

Kakashi closed his eyes. "It's not that simple you know. I can train as hard and as long as I want, but I'll never be able to master the chidori."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Is that what this is about? You'll master it! You're a prodigy!" Naruto grinned confidently.

After all, he was from the future and knew Kakashi as an adult. Kakashi-sensei was so powerful. He had seen him use the chidori and it was incredible! Just thinking about it sent a shiver up his spine. Kakashi right now just needed encouragement and support and he'd turn out into what his sensei is in the future.

Kakashi sighed in irritation. "It doesn't matter if I'm some proclaimed prodigy. It won't matter if I have sheer determination or the will to continue on. A smart shinobi knows when it is time to give up and think of better options. I _can't _master the chidori. It's a simple fact. I'm left vulnerable and open for any attacks from the enemy because I get tunnel vision. The jutsu requires an incredible amount of speed, and my vision just can't keep up with that. The chidori is more suited for an Uchiha, not me."

Naruto shook his head vigorously. "That's not true! The chidori is the first jutsu you created on your own! You can't just give up on it and give it away! And why would it even be better suited to an Uchiha?!"

Feeling increasingly frustrated with the blonde Kakashi snapped. "Because they have the sharingan! They have the key to unlocking the true potential of the chidori! With the sharingan they can see _everything_. They won't get tunnel vision, they can master the speed needed, they can master the chidori. And since the chidori is my own creation, I won't let it go to waste. I'm going to teach Obito how to use it once he unlocks his sharingan. He can carry on the jutsu for me."

Naruto sat back in shock. So…Kakashi needs the sharingan in order to use the chidori to it's full potential? Is that why Kakashi-sensei had the sharingan? Without it…he couldn't use chidori…

Naruto sucked in a harsh breath as he came to a realization. Had he screwed up? When in the world did Kakashi-sensei obtain the sharingan? He had no idea, no inkling, _nothing_ of Kakashi-sensei's past. And he was going to teach Obito the chidori? Where was Obito in his time anyway? He never saw him…Kakashi-sensei never even talked about him. Not about Rin, or even about Minato-sensei or Kushina! The only thing Naruto really knew about Kakashi's past was that he had lost a lot of comrades and close friends on the battle field. That's when he taught him about teamwork.

And then it struck him. Naruto had saved Obito on that last mission. Did he…was Obito suppose to have died on that mission? If so, was that how and when Kakashi obtained the sharingan? If Naruto hadn't been there, Obito would of surely been crushed by the falling boulders. If Naruto wasn't there, Obito would of died.

He should of died.

All the color drained rapidly from Naruto's face. He hadn't realized that he had altered time. But…it was a life. He _saved_ someone's life! It was Obito's life too! He was a great guy! He doesn't deserve to die so young. He deserved to live! Obito was almost fourteen. He knew ninja of all ages died on the battle field. Even kids younger than him died out there. But it wasn't wrong of him to save Obito was it?

Except that...by saving Obito, he probably messed up Kakashi's life. Without the sharingan, Kakashi wouldn't be the 'Copy-cat ninja' anymore. Would he even be as powerful? Would he even be the same?!

Kakashi right now wasn't even close to how Kakashi-sensei is! The only thing they shared in common was the orange book that they read written by Jiraiya. Wait...how did Kakashi come across that book in the first place if Naruto had never interfered with the past?

Oh Kami, what had he done?!

It had taken a few minutes, but Kakashi finally calmed down after that outburst of his. He hadn't meant to snap at Naruto. He knew the blonde was only trying to help and he appreciated it, really he did. It's just that he knew when something was out of his reach. Naruto clearly didn't abide by that concept. He was the type that would reach for the stars, and wouldn't stop until he accomplished his goal. Which was incredibly admirable, but Kakashi sometimes had to think if that was also a bit stupid as well? Only idiots didn't know when to stop, to finally see that enough was enough.

Even if it was, Kakashi wouldn't want Naruto to change. If in fact it was him that was the idiot for not pushing himself to the limit until he accomplished his ambition, then at least he knew Naruto would never quit. It was one of the things he liked the most about Naruto.

With a fondness appearing in his eyes, he looked up at Naruto to at least thank him for believing in him but stopped. Naruto looked like he was about ready to break down.

"Naruto?"

No response. In fact, it looked like Naruto was lost in his own thoughts. Drowning in those thoughts to be more precise. Getting worried, Kakashi lifted himself up on his elbows and reached an arm out to Naruto. He grabbed the blonde's forearm and shook the genin gently.

"Hey, Naruto. Naruto answer me!"

What was wrong with him? He was fine just a few minutes ago. All cheery with bright smiles trying to comfort and encourage him. What happened? Now Naruto was as white as a ghost, looking as if he had come to a horrible realization.

Was it because of what he had said? A feeling of dread crept up Kakashi's back. Did he just break Naruto's will? What if he tore Naruto up by giving up and proving that he couldn't master the chidori. Did Naruto now think that not everything he wanted couldn't always be accomplished?

No! He didn't want to crush the genin's dreams! If anyone, Kakashi believed Naruto could do anything and everything!

"Naruto!"

He hadn't meant to actually punch the blonde in the face, but in a way he was glad he did. It finally got a reaction out of him, just when it looked like Naruto was about to cry. He didn't want to see those blue eyes look so broken ever again.

Touching his cheek tenderly and wincing slightly at the pain, Naruto looked up at Kakashi. He didn't even shout at him for doing that like he normally would. Right now, he was too distraught thinking that he may of messed up Kakashi's future.

"Sorry…"

Kakashi's eyes widened. "Sorry? What in the world are you sorry for?" Kakashi was stunned. What was Naruto thinking?

"I-I'm just…just sorry I-" _Sorry that I messed up your life. You're probably not going to turn into the Kakashi-sensei I know. Not the one I respect and admire. Not at all._

"What are you sorry for?" Kakashi wanted to pull Naruto into his arms and squeeze out whatever it was that was troubling the boy out of him. But Naruto looked about ready to break if he so much as touched him.

Naruto sniffed. It sounded so pitiful to Kakashi.

"Are…are you sure you'll never be able to master the chidori? _Absolutely_ sure? Only an Uchiha can master it?"

So that was what this was about? Dear Kami, Kakashi really did some damage to him. But he couldn't lie to Naruto could he? If he tried and tried to master the chidori, and failed every time, wouldn't that just be giving the blonde a false hope? It'd just hurt him worse in the end.

Ugh, why did this have to happen to him? Either way, no matter how he said it or went about it, he was going to break Naruto wasn't he?

He looked away from those pleading eyes. "Naruto…" He sighed. "There really isn't any way for me to fully master the chidori. I don't have the right kind of eyesight to do so. If I were born an Uchiha it wouldn't be a problem. But my eyes just can't keep up with the kind of speed that is needed to execute the jutsu. I'm sorry."

Naruto closed his eyes and beat back the urge to cry. He changed Kakashi. Who knew how he'd turn out in the future. Who knew what other accidental changes Naruto made! Kakashi couldn't use the chidori at all because he didn't have the sharingan. But there had to be another way for him to use it! The sharingan couldn't be the only solution could it? What if Kakashi could forgo his sight and focus just on the jutsu itself? The jutsu needed speed, so what if he just flashed from one spot to another. It'd be too unpredictable for an enemy to make a counter attack. It'd be just like-

Naruto's eyes snapped open. "Wait! I know how you can master the chidori!"

Kakashi's eyes widened. "You...you do?"

With a huge smile, Naruto leapt to his feet. "Yes! All you need to do is learn how to do the hiraishin first! You don't need the sharingan! If you can mark your enemy like Minato-sensei does, then you can just charge up the chidori and then flash over to them in a millisecond and take them out! You'd be even faster than ever before! You could even use it to evade attacks if you heighten your senses! If you do that, you wouldn't need your eyes to see and know everything going on around you!"

There was still a chance for Naruto to make sure Kakashi became what he knew him to be in his time. And he'd do everything in his power to make sure that happened. He wouldn't let Kakashi or Kaka-sensei down!

For several moments, Kakashi sat there completely stunned. Why hadn't he thought of that? It never even crossed his mind. A grin broke out on his face, his eyes shining with excitement.

"You're a little genius Naruto."

Scratching the back of his head, Naruto smiled bashfully. "Yeah I-wait, I'm not little! I'm growing you know!"

Kakashi snorted in amusement. Naruto was only a few months away from being thirteen, yet he still didn't look like he was even twelve. In a way, he liked and hoped that Naruto didn't grow up too much.

"Of course you are."

Naruto scowled at the hidden amusement he detected in Kakashi's voice.

"Anyway, what time is it? I don't even no how long I've been out." Kakashi laid himself back down and got comfortable.

"Oh it's early evening right about now. You were out cold for almost two days. Rin came by earlier and said you'd probably wake up today so I brought you food! Oh! She also said you might feel sick or even run a fever from the chakra exhaustion. I have to check that!"

Naruto sat down on Kakashi's bed and leaned towards Kakashi, breaching into his personal bubble. Eyes widening, Kakashi leaned back till his head hit the bedpost. Narutp pressed his forehead against Kakashi's.

"What are you doing?" Naruto was way too close right now. Kakashi could feel his face heating up rapidly. To make it worse, his mind flashed back to when he kissed Naruto. Oh how he wanted to do that again. He could steal one right now, it was the perfect opportunity.

"Just checking your temperature. I couldn't find a thermometer anywhere here, but Rin told me this method was pretty effective." His eyes narrowed slightly. "You're hot Kakashi. I think you _do_ have a fever."

Naruto started to pull away but was stopped by a hand behind his head. That hand tangled it's fingers in his blonde hair, taking a firm grip, and yanked him forward, smashing his lips against Kakashi's clothed ones.

Kakashi wished he could take off his mask and really kiss Naruto, but he wasn't ready to reveal his face just yet. He wanted to wait for the right moment to show Naruto that. Hopefully during a time when Naruto started to harbor the same feelings Kakashi had for him. For now though, this was fine. Even if he couldn't taste Naruto or plunge his tongue into the genin's hot mouth, he could still sink his teeth into those plump, luscious lips of his.

It took a lot of his will power to not moan. Even more to control himself from not ripping his mask off and showering love bites all over those lips and tan skin. After a couple more nibbles on Naruto's lips Kakashi finally pulled away.

He had expected Naruto to shove him away or flail about and shout profanities at him a lot sooner but right now, Naruto looked completely dazed. But quickly, Naruto came back to himself and glared angrily at Kakashi as he jumped up from the bed.

"What was that for?! Stop doing that you bastard!" Naruto furiously wiped his mouth with his sleeve.

Kakashi smirked. "My thank you gift to you."

"Thank you gift?! Thanks for what!"

Kakashi resisted the urge to lick his own lips. "For coming up with that ingenious plan of yours to use the hiraishin to master the chidori. I would of given up on that jutsu if it wasn't for you."

Naruto blushed for a moment at the gratitude, but quickly scowled. "You didn't have to kiss me though! Ugh! What if I get sick now?!"

Naruto quickly grabbed the food tray he had brought with him and set it non-too-gently on Kakashi's lap. "Eat your soup so you can get better alright! And don't do that again either!"

Kakashi nodded just to appease Naruto for now. Of course he'd do that again, and again, and some more whenever he got the chance. He'd keep doing it, until it finally sunk into Naruto's dense little brain.

He looked down at his food. He was actually pretty hungry right now, and eagerly picked up his chopsticks.

His eye twitched.

"Naruto…" He shot a glare at the genin. "This is ramen."

Naruto lifted an eyebrow at the jounin. "Yeah so? Ramen's good for you!"

Oh for the love of-

If Kakashi didn't love Naruto so much he would of dumped this crap on the genin's head! But in a way it was kind of endearing. Only Naruto would give a sick person ramen to help them get better.

Kakashi smiled. At least he wasn't actually sick. It was the thought that counts right?

.

.

.

.

TBC…

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><p><strong>AN: Finally done! I'm glad writing this chapter didn't take months for me to write out even when I lost the notes I had written down concerning the chidori for Kakashi. Glad I remembered all that lmao **

**Anyway hope you all enjoyed chapter 13! ;) Please leave a review, you know I love reading about what you think! ^^ xoxo**


	14. Chapter 14

**Sooo I know I really suck with updates. I can't apologize enough for that x-X Anyway thank you everyone who has reviewed, favorite, and followed! It really makes me happy! And incredibly guilty cause of how slow I update…But anyway, I finally found myself a beta reader! They are going over and helping me fix all the little errors I know are littered throughout the chapters.**

**Really, it bothers me so much when I look over past chapters and see mistakes. So I'll be replacing old chapters with edited versions soon! Chapter 1 is already done and is now up. I have ItachiUchiha7 to thank for helping me with them! Thank you so much hun! :D**

**And now, please enjoy chapter 14!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

~Come on Closer~

Ever since Naruto realized he had made changes to the past after he arrived, it had been constantly worrying him that every little thing he did or said would have some kind of effect. He almost screwed over Kakashi for Kami's sake! He could only hope that learning the hiraishin will allow Kakashi to use the chidori to its full extent and balance everything out again.

For the rest of the day Kakashi remained in bed to rest, orders courtesy of Rin. She came back early the next morning to check on him and see how he was doing and announced that he was good enough to get up and train again. But she warned him to take it easy.

While they had been bantering with each other, Naruto left the room and went into the kitchen. He wasn't hungry, but he felt like eating something to take his mind off of everything. He couldn't stop thinking about what he had done!

How could he be so stupid? What should he do? Naruto was sure that just by his presence being here he was altering things. He wondered what his real time was like now, if anything had changed. He hoped not. And Naruto didn't even have the faintest clue as to how to get back.

Before he was completely fine with staying in the past, he was happy here. He had everything he could ever want. But now…he really felt like he was just imposing. He knew he shouldn't be here.

Taking in a deep breath, Naruto sighed heavily in a sullen manner. What should he do? He didn't _want_to go back to his time, but could he really risk staying here when he could be altering things in his time? He already messed up Kakashi! He lost his sharingan eye cause of him he was sure. Obito should of died, and then one of his eyes should of gone over to Kakashi. What if Kakashi wasn't as powerful in the future? What if he was different now?! So he could be changing things for the worst! And Naruto had no means of going back and-

Or it could be changing for the better.

Naruto stared at the apple he had in his hand, not even remembering grabbing it while running around in a panic in his head with his thoughts. While thinking of how bad things could turn out for every little thing he did, he almost didn't think that maybe some good could come out of it too. He wasn't the smartest person ever, but there was always good things that came along with the bad things right?

Kakashi lost his sharingan eye cause of him, but at the cost of that, he saved Obito's life. That was the upside to it. And Naruto had swore to himself that he'd do everything to make sure Kakashi mastered the chidori. He was certain he'd be able to if Minato taught him the Hiraishin.

Finally a small smile broke through his worried façade. Maybe he really didn't have to worry so much after all? Just because he was here and possibly screwing things up, he was at least aware of it now. And his presence could now try to keep things in the balance. Naruto would make sure of it!

His smile waned slightly as one thought crushed his heart a little bit. Things would end up differently now, and he'd never see the people he once knew ever again. Well...he would in a few more years when they were born, but it wouldn't be the same. Who would take his place in Team seven when the time came? Would this Kakashi still be the jounin instructor for that?

Well…Naruto guessed he'd have to wait and find out. He cheered up a little bit, now determined with his shaky resolve. He took a bite of his apple when he heard footsteps coming from down the hall. He looked up just in time to see Rin walking past him.

"Hey Rin! You wanna-"

Rin had rushed past him without so much of a look in his direction and slammed the door. She looked upset…

Then the jounin entered the room and Naruto turned to him. "Hey, what's wrong with Rin?"

Kakashi didn't look up at him, only stared at the door where Rin had just left through. "She's just…she needs some time to herself right now."

"What? Why?" Naruto cocked his head in concerned confusion.

With a heavy sigh, Kakashi turned his gaze towards Naruto and stared at him with an odd look in his eyes. "Don't worry about it alright? She'll be fine."

But…how can Naruto _not_worry about Rin now that Kakashi refused to tell him anything? It just made everything even more suspicious! "Maybe I should go talk to her and cheer up then."

Naruto pushed himself from the counter he had been leaning on and headed towards the door, but was stopped by Kakashi who took a hold of his arm and pulled him back. "No, listen it's…Rin really needs some time to herself. _Alone_."

"But-" Naruto tugged at his arm to free it from Kakashi's grasp, but the jounin only tightened his grip.

"Let's go train okay? I've been down and out for a few days now and want to get back to training." Kakashi needed to take Naruto's mind off of Rin and distract him somehow.

For a few moments, Naruto said nothing, seemingly trying to decide what to do but then slowly nodded in consent. "Alright. I haven't trained in a few days either." He smiled a little sheepishly, then a determined glint shined in his eyes and he grinned.

"I bet you're rusty, so it'll be even easier to kick your ass!"

Kakashi faked a hurt look. "So you're not even going easy on me even though I'm still recovering and was specifically told to take it easy?"

"Nope! Not my fault you collapsed from chakra exhaustion! If anything, that's your own fault and giving me an advantage!" Naruto cackled evilly, but abruptly stopped and had a thoughtful look on his face while staring at him.

"What?" Kakashi asked.

A small grin appeared on the blondes face, his eyes shining a little bit in mischief. Kakashi lifted an eyebrow, wondering what was on the genin's mind.

"I know what we'll do! Let's do a little stealth exercise."

"A stealth exercise?" Kakashi repeated, but was interested in the idea.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah! I'll be gracious since you can't overdo it just yet. So we can just practice our stealth. I'll hide and keep out of sight and try to steal a kunai at the target posts, and you try to find and stop me!"

That actually sounded like a pretty good idea. Plus with Naruto wearing that eyesore of a jumpsuit, it'd probably be easy to find him. "Alright." This actually sounded like it'd be quite fun too.

Once at the training grounds, that little grin appeared on the blonde's face once again, and Kakashi had a sneaking feeling that Naruto was up to something. "Okay, I'm going to leave my kunai in the target post, then we'll both go in opposite directions to hide. Then in three minutes you can try to find me while I try to steal the kunai back!"

Kakashi nodded and turned around to walk in the opposite direction. Naruto did so as well and once he was far enough that he couldn't sense Kakashi's chakra, he grinned and made the hand sign for his trademark shadow clone jutsu. He summoned one clone and silently they both nodded at each other.

The plan Naruto had come up with was that the clone would stay behind and play cat and mouse with Kakashi, while he went off to find Rin. He needed to make sure she was alright and...and he really wanted to know what was wrong. It bothered him not knowing.

Quickly as he could, Naruto dashed out of the training grounds unseen before the exercise began. For awhile he should be alright, his clone could keep Kakashi busy so long as the jounin didn't hit his clone too hard and disperse the jutsu.

Rin's house was the first place he looked but she wasn't there. He even checked her usual spots and little cafe's or restaurants she liked to go too. He may not be that close to her, but he did listen to her idle chatter during training. But she was nowhere to be found, Naruto had looked around everywhere.

With a heavy defeated sigh, Naruto was turned around to head back to the training grounds. Hopefully his clone was still intact and distracting Kakashi. "Maybe I'll see if she's home tomorrow..." He muttered.

"Oh Naruto!"

Surprised, Naruto looked up and saw Obito waving at him. He waved back and grinned. "He Obito what's up!" Then his eyes brightened. "Hey have you seen Rin?"

"Not much was just making a quick delivery for my father." His eyes lowered a bit. "And yeah I did awhile ago. She looked upset and when I tried to cheer her up she snapped at me to go away and then she ran off. I think she might of gone towards the Hokage mountain."

"She _snapped_ at you?" That didn't sound like Rin at all...She was too kind and never snapped at others. Plus it must of hurt Obito as well. Naruto knew very well the Uchiha liked her a lot.

Obito shrugged. "Yeah but it's no big deal." It was clear as day that Obito was a bit hurt over it.

"Don't worry about her, I'm sure she'll come around eventually and return your feelings!"

"W-What?!" Obito's cheeks started to turn red, making Naruto grin in amusement at his friends expense.

"Well I'm outta here! I needed to go see Rin so Imma check the Hokage mountains! See ya later!" Naruto ran past Obito, then hopped to the roofs to get to the mountains faster.

Obito glared at Naruto's retreating form. "I can't believe Kakashi fell for _him_ of all people." Not that Naruto was a bad catch at all. He was just surprised that someone like Kakashi, would be head over heels for someone like Naruto, his complete opposite. But whatever, whatever made the both of them happy. Which come to think of it...wasn't Naruto training with Kakashi right now? He could of sworn he saw them at the training grounds before he met Naruto here-

Obito smirked and muffled a cackling laugh. Looked like Naruto was playing a prank on Kakashi and even ditched the jounin. Now he wanted to watch and see if Kakashi would notice he had been doped! Quickly, Obito raced to deliver a package for his father. He wanted to see the moment Kakashi realized he had been duped!

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><p>Just like Obito said, Rin was up on the Hokage mountains by herself. And she must have been really upset seeing as she hadn't even detected his presence yet. With a worried frown, Naruto approached Rin and stood in front of her, not wanting to startle her from coming from behind or her sides. However that still didn't seem to get her attention.<p>

"Rin?" Naruto knelt down in front of her and tried to look at her face, but she had it buried in her arms. "Rin what's wrong?"

"Naruto..." A heavy sigh came from Rin as the girl lifted her head. Her eyes were red and a little puffy, and Naruto realized it was because she had been crying.

"W-What happened? Why were you crying?"

For a long moment Rin said nothing to him, just simply stared at him. It got to a point that Naruto started to feel very uncomfortable. It felt as if Rin was sizing him up or trying to discern something for herself. But then she shook her head and sighed once more.

"I'm sorry Naruto. I'm just...just heartbroken."

"Heart...broken?"

"Ah." Rin wiped the corner of her eyes and smiled sadly. "Have you ever liked someone so much, but know deep down it could never be? I had known for a long time that he didn't share the same feelings I had for him."

"You mean Kakashi?" Naruto asked slowly. He knew exactly how she felt too. Back when he was with team 7, even though he had liked Sakura, he kind of knew that Sakura would always have her heart set on Sasuke.

"Yes. And today I decided to give it my all, hoping that my feelings would get through to Kakashi."

Naruto lowered his gaze. So that was what had happened this morning. Rin had confessed her feelings to Kakashi and he shot her down. For some horrible reason, Naruto felt relieved to hear that. He had known Rin liked Kakashi, but he never truly thought much of it. But he shouldn't feel that way at all! Not when Rin was so deeply crushed from rejection.

Abruptly Naruto shot to his feet, startling Rin. "I'm gonna go talk to him." He had to make it right. He hated this sickening relieved feeling in his gut, it wasn't right! He shouldn't pleased by this news!

"W-What? Naruto don't!" Rin jumped to her feet and grabbed Naruto's arm to stop him. "You can't force someone to like another person! You just can't do that!"

Naruto growled under his breath. "I know that!" He knew that better than anything! "But he should at least give you a chance! To see how if it'd work out! That's the least he can do for you!"

"No, that won't work. It's not going to work anymore, it's too late for that."

"Too late? What are you talking about? Are you just going to give up? It's not too late!"

"It's not about me giving up!" Rin yanked Naruto around to face her. It shocked him with the amount of force she used. Not to mention it was the first time he had ever heard her raise her voice at someone other than enemies.

"I love Kakashi. I have for the longest time. And I've watched him go through so many painful experiences. Each one breaking him more and more, closing him off to everyone around him." Her eyes began to shimmer with the threat of more tears. "And I thought that I could be the one to save him. To be his ray of light, to make him _smile _again and to feel happy once more."

She lifted her hands to her face to wipe away the tears but they just kept coming. "But no matter how hard I tried, nothing ever worked. I couldn't break down his walls or even make him smile once. I don't even think I'm anything more than just a comrade to him."

"That's not true!" Naruto grabbed Rin by her shoulders, wanting to shake these negative thoughts out of her head but held himself back. "Kakashi thinks of you as a really close friend! I'm sure of it! And you just have to keep trying-"

"You don't get it Naruto..."

"Don't get-What don't I get?!" This was starting to piss him off a bit. Rin really needed an encouragement boost but she just kept refusing it!

But then Rin just smiled at him. A very sad, defeated smile. "There's at least one thing I'm glad to see though. And that's Kakashi finally finding someone who makes him happy. Even if it's not me. I'm still so happy for him."

Rin sniffed softly, then stepped closer and embraced the genin into a hug. Awkwardly and way more confused than he was five seconds ago, Naruto returned the hug. Maybe Rin was right. He didn't really understand what was going on. It just sounded like that she was backing off because Kakashi found someone else-

Oh.

"So...Kakashi likes someone else?" Naruto cringed at even having the nerve to ask Rin, but now that it finally hit him, he felt irritated and...and crushed. Something heavy settled itself in the pit of his stomach and it made him feel sick.

Rin only nodded. His arms tightened around her, feeling even more upset now. Eyes narrowing a bit and his lower lip jutting out slightly, Naruto felt hurt. Very hurt.

But the feeling was all too familiar.

"Do you know who it is?"

For a long minute, Rin said nothing. But then she stirred and pulled herself away from Naruto and gave him a very strange look. "You don't know? I thought Kakashi told you."

Now _that_ really upset him. So Rin knew and he didn't? "No. He didn't."

Rin stared at him, as if carefully observing him. "Are you sure? Kakashi told me that he told you." Then something seemed to dawn on her and she brought a hand to her mouth as if holding back the urge to laugh.

"Naruto are you sure Kakashi never told you or at the very least given you hints?"

Naruto tried really hard to think back if Kakashi had ever told him _who _he liked but couldn't come up with anything. He shook his head and felt dejected.

However, Rin seemed to find his misery amusing, and just shook her head at him with a smile. "Okay then. Think carefully about this then. Has Kakashi been weird at all towards you lately?"

Actually, in fact he has! "Yeah! He kissed me twice for no reason you know! I hate it when he teases me like that!"

Rin's face reddened a little at Naruto's outburst but then coughed into her hand to try and compose herself. "Naruto...do you know the signs of when someone likes you right?"

"Of someone liking _me_? Why would anyone like me in that sense?"

The brunette just stared at him in shock, then shook her head as if in disbelief. "Naruto, did you know that no one has an control over who they fall in love with? It doesn't matter who it would be, it just happens beyond your control. Even if you actually think you hate them, you turn out to actually like them a lot."

"Really? That kind of sounds terrible..." So if he himself fell in love with someone he hated...say someone like Sasuke-

No, that was definitely horrible and an utter nightmare.

"It's not, trust me it's not! It may be very confusing to you at first, but once you come to terms with it, it can be wonderful. And I'm sure that's just how Kakashi feels."

Naruto squinted his eyes and cocked his head in confusion. "So Kakashi fell for someone he didn't like at first?"

Rin nearly faced palmed. "It's _you_! Kakashi fell for _you_! Why else do you think he'd kiss you twice?"

"What?! No he doesn't!" Naruto's face was first shocked, then burned red with embarrassment. And worse, he felt weird.

Even after releasing a heavy sigh, Rin couldn't help but giggle a little at Naruto's reaction, even though she felt floored with how dense he was being. "Trust me when I say that Kakashi likes you _a lot_. And he did confess this to you. I think he told me that you took it the wrong way though."

That was impossible. Sure Kakashi had kissed him a couple times, but that was just because the jounin was screwing with him. Right?

And when the hell did he tell him his feelings?

_"I avoided you because...I like you. I like you _a lot_." _

Oh...

He had thought Kakashi had meant as a friend. But he had actually meant as in liking him that way? Naruto felt his face burning and his own legs shaking a bit, as well as his insides felt like a knotted mess.

But the weirdest thing of it all was that it felt good. He didn't feel hurt anymore knowing that Kakashi didn't like someone else. He didn't like someone else. He liked _him_. The deadlast. The outsider...

But he liked him.

"Naruto, are you alright?"

The blonde had been silent for a little longer than she thought he would and was starting to get a little worried for him. But once she got a good look at his face, she smiled. It was finally hitting him. Hitting him a little hard by the looks of it.

"I'm uh...I'm alright." Naruto finally answered.

Just to be sure, Rin needed to ask. "How do you feel about Kakashi?"

His shoulder's stiffened at the question, not knowing how to answer that. How did he feel about Kakashi? Did he even like him back?

Seeing that Naruto seemed to be stuck on this question, she decided to help him a little bit with another. "If you're not sure, then have you ever liked someone else before? Your feelings right now could be the same as the ones you had for someone else."

Sakura...he had liked Sakura back then. But what he felt then couldn't even be compared with right now. In fact, with how he was feeling right now, he had to wonder if he ever truly had real feelings for Sakura at that time.

"How do you feel?"

Naruto looked up at Rin. "Overwhelmed. Happy. Excited. Relieved too. Too many things at once...and I feel like I'm sick but not in a bad way."

Rin just smiled and cupped his hands in her own. "You know Kakashi feels the same way."

He felt the same way? This was how Kakashi felt when he was around him? How could the jounin stand it? But this was wonderful! Someone actually...really liked him. A boy but, all that mattered was that someone actually cared for him in that way. He hadn't felt this happy since Minato and Kushina asked if they could adopt him.

But then a pang struck his heart.

"What about you? You like Kakashi so much."

How could he even feel like this for Kakashi and know these feelings would be returned if Rin was left with nothing? But the girl only smiled at him.

"It's okay. I told you that I'm glad just to see him finally happy. That's enough for-"

Naruto cut her off by pulling her into a bone crushing hug. Rin was startled, but then hugged him back and felt her eyes get teary once again. She cursed herself for these tears, she had cried enough.

"You know, there's someone else who feels the same way you do." Naruto said as he pulled back a little.

"There is...?" Rin was confused.

Naruto smiled brightly at her and nodded. "Yeah. Maybe it's not just me who doesn't seem to see when someone likes them. Obito has been pining for you for a long time too."

At Rin's stunned face and raging blush,, Naruto laughed then let her go. "I need to go find Kakashi now. I actually ditched him to find you and he'll be mad if he finds out. When you see Obito tell him I said you're welcome!"

Before Rin could even reply, Naruto took off, racing to the training grounds hoping that Kakashi hadn't caught on to his little trick. He had been gone for a couple of hours though, so the chances of that were slim. Naruto bit his lip and hoped that Kakashi wouldn't be too mad...

When he arrived at the training grounds, the very first thing that came to his attention was that it was deserted. He couldn't feel Kakashi's chakra signature anywhere and it looked like his clone had dispersed. He couldn't feel his clone anywhere either.

Naruto walked over to the target post where he had left his kunai and noticed that it was still there. Slowly Naruto picked it up and held it in his hands. So Kakashi and hi clone was gone, but the kunai was still here...

That could only mean that Kakashi had left angry after finding out that Naruto had tricked him. He felt a sinking feeling in his stomach at the thought of angering Kakashi. But hopefully the jounin would forgive him. He would wouldn't he?

Naruto sighed and wondered where Kakashi could of gone but couldn't come up with any particular place in mind the jounin would run off to. The only pace that came to mind was the KIA stone. He remembered when Kakashi-sensei would always go there and stare at it for a long time. But that was because he had lost so many friends and comrades. He still had a his precious people with him right now...most of them. He didn't have his father anymore...

Just to be sure, Naruto checked the KIA stone to see if Kakashi was hanging around there, but no one was there. Naruto tried to think of other places Kakashi could be but then thought, he could of just gone home. He was still recovering so that'd be the best place to check.

The walk back home was a bit slow. Naruto would of just sprinted across the rooftops, but the dread he was feeling was holding him back. Would Kakashi be there? Would he be angry? How was he suppose to tell Kakashi how he felt?

And the other thing that was nagging at the back of Naruto's head was the fact that this was _Kakashi_. His future sensei. Or his would be future sensei. There was no telling with how it'd all turn out now. But with him stuck in this time now, and Kakashi actually having feelings for him, things were definitely going to change. And for some strange reason, it didn't feel weird to have these feelings. When he saw Kakashi, he didn't see him as his sensei anymore. He just saw him as Kakashi.

Thinking about the jounin made him feel happy and nervous at the same time. Finally he reached Kakashi's house and cautiously opened the door. It was silent inside. And a little dark. Slowly Naruto stepped inside and closed the door behind him. The silence became glaringly apparent at the loud creaking sounds the door made. He never noticed how loud it actually was...

"Kakashi?" Naruto walked further into the house, trying to sense if Kakashi was there or not, but so far he couldn't feel the other's chakra.

"You home? Kakashi?" As he passed the stairs he felt it. It was small and barely noticeable, but he felt Kakashi's chakra. He was upstairs.

Taking in a deep breath, Naruto walked up the stairs and down the hall to Kakashi's room and stood in front of the door. He was definitely in there. Was he sleeping? No, he was sure he wasn't.

"Kakashi? I know you're in there..."

He was met with silence. Naruto weakly glared at the door, debating if he should leave Kakashi alone for now or barge in. It probably would be best to leave Kakashi be for now. He might be angry with him, but the need to see and talk to him was overwhelming persistent.

With a deep breath, Naruto grabbed the door knob and turned it. It was a little surprising to see that it wasn't locked, but he didn't waste time thinking about that, he just pushed the door open and peeked inside. It was dark inside the room as well.

Opening the door a little wider, Naruto stepped inside, his eyes zooming in on the figure laying on the bed. He closed the door and walked over to the bed and looked down. Kakashi was wide awake, glaring at the opposite wall from him.

Naruto looked down at his feet, knowing exactly why Kakashi was so mad. His heart clenched a little painfully in his chest.

"Kakashi...I'm sorry. I-"

"Sorry? What are you sorry for?"

Naruto hadn't expected to suddenly hear him speak. It stumped him for a few seconds before shaking his head. "For-you know for tricking you. I left a clone behind to go and find Rin."

"I know you did. Obito told me."

"He did...?"

"Yes. Showed up when I was still trying to find you and just sat there and watched me as if waiting for me to come to some realization. That's when it hit me."

So Obito indirectly sold him out...Naruto would get back at him later. Indirectly of course.

"How was Rin?"

Naruto sapped back to attention at the question and nervously lifted a hand to rub the nape of his neck. "Oh uh...she's fine. We chatted for a bit."

From the corner of his eye, Naruto noticed Kakashi's posture relax slightly. So not only had he been a bit mad at him, but he was also very concerned for Rin. That brought a tiny smile to his face.

"What are you smiling for?"

Naruto's eyes snapped over to Kakashi and was surprised to see him so clearly when there was hardly any light. His smile widened and he cocked his head to the side. "Just smiling about how much you care about Rin. She was really upset about you turning her down, but I think she cheered up a bit." A small blush spread across his cheeks upon remembering what Rin had told him.

"That's good." Kakashi sat up a little bit, his eyes appearing relieved with the news. Then those dark eyes focused on him. "When I found out from Obito after beating him up that you had ditched me to find Rin I was going to drag your sorry ass back. But then figured you would of probably had found her by then. I didn't want to hurt her more by showing my face..."

His eyes lowered and his shoulders slumped slightly, a soft sigh drifted from his lips. "I had known for a long time that she had feelings for me. But back then I had selfishly ignored them, and had once inwardly mocked her for having such feelings when she was a shinobi. To me feelings like that were just a weakness. My attitude towards her was probably also part of the reason why Obito and I didn't get along at all since he likes her."

Kakashi looked back over at Naruto. "She really was alright when you spoke to her?"

Naruto sat on the bed next to Kakashi and his smile widened. "Yeah. She's definitely alright. We talked about it, and she told me a lot. She also made me realize something that I was too stupid to figure out myself."

Confused, Kakashi turned towards Naruto with a raised eyebrow in question. "What were you too stupid to figure-"

A pair of lips planted themselves over Kakashi's masked ones, shocking the jounin to his core. When the genin pulled away, Kakashi could only stare at him in a stunned silence. Naruto's face was beet red with embarrassment, but despite the fluttering of his heart, he stared Kakashi dead in the eyes.

"I get it now. Those times when you...kissed me. I thought you had just been teasing me in your own weird ass way. Also back when you did confess your feelings to me. I like to think that I am a bit perceptive and sometimes even clever with most things. But I'm dumb as shit when it comes to things that I've never experienced firsthand before. No one has ever liked me before...nobody ever cared that way either."

Naruto smiled sadly. "I also think...even if I was fully aware of your true intentions, I might of come up with excuses to not believe it or even convince myself that you were only toying with me. I don't know how to tell the difference. Sometimes I just don't know when certain actions are truly genuine. I mostly only know if I'm being deceived. I couldn't make out heads or tails with you, so I just thought you were teasing me like any weird friend would."

His faced reddened a little bit more. "And not only that...I don't think I've ever truly liked someone before either. I used to think I liked this girl from my old team, but now I can see that it was only a weak infatuation. She was just really pretty even though she didn't treat me kindly half the time. So when Rin told me that you had turned her down, I oddly felt _relieved_. It's so selfish of me to feel that way when she was hurting, but I felt so relieved that you had turned her down. I didn't even realize myself that I might feel the same way you do."

Naruto swallowed thickly, nearly trembling from how nervous he felt from admitting this to Kakashi. Part of him still felt like this might be some cruel joke that Kakashi might find funny. Like this was just some mistake and Rin had interpreted Kakashi's actions wrong. But instead of his worst fear coming to life, the last thing he ever expected to happen did.

Slowly Kakashi raised his hand, their gazes securely locked with each other. At first Naruto thought he was going to touch him, but the hand went towards his own face, and tugged his mask down, all the way to his neck, revealing the face underneath he had always plotted and schemed to see.

Pale, flawless skin. A pointed chin and strong looking jaw. The scar on his left eye even ran a little further down than he had thought. A regular mouth with a full bottom lip. In all, Kakashi looked perfect.

"No buckteeth..." He whispered. No buckteeth, no tiny mouth, not even huge fish lips. Even if his imagination exaggerated the images, he was still stunned to see how perfect Kakashi looked in his eyes.

And then that mouth quirked into a smirk. For once Naruto didn't have to envision what kind of expression was on Kakashi's face through his eyes. It was all laid out for him to see.

"Don't ruin the moment."

It was weird actually seeing words coming out of a moving mouth on Kakashi. Before he could even think to answer, Kakashi leaned in and pressed his lips to his. With his newly discovered feelings and being aware of Kakashi's as well, this kiss felt electrifying. He didn't freeze up from it, didn't even fall into a stunned daze this time.

This time Naruto kissed the jounin back. It was slow, having a languid feel to it. But it still sent a heat rising rapidly in his body, making his stomach flutter and flop around pleasantly. He sighed softly through his nose and felt his eyelids drift shut.

Hands grabbed his arms to pull him closer to the jounin's body. Lazily, Naruto draped his arms around Kakashi's shoulder and pressed himself against him. He hummed slightly in amusement at a sharp nip to his lips, knowing what Kakashi wanted, and granted it.

This was the first time he had ever kissed anyone like this, so at first the feel of another's tongue in his on mouth felt odd, but strangely nice at the same time. He was surprised to hear and _feel_ Kakashi moan softly into his mouth. It sent an odd spike of pleasure through him. Shyly Naruto responded with his own tongue, and felt Kakashi respond with a bit more intensity.

Completely forgetting to breath form his nose, Naruto broke the kiss and sucked in fresh air. He heard a Kakashi chuckle softly at him, then felt a small peck on the corner of his mouth.

"It's easy to forget to breathe through your nose, but it becomes second nature quickly." He murmured against his lips, then softly kissed them.

"Mmmm." Naruto kissed back and was ready to resume what they had been doing but then felt himself being guided down to lay on the bed.

Another soft kiss was planted on his lips, then Kakashi gently nuzzled his face against his. A wide smile stretched across his face from the unexpected show of affection. Naruto had never felt so happy and content before. This was bliss.

"Thank you Kakashi."

"For what?" The jounin looked at him curiously.

Naruto shifted a little bit till he was comfortable laying next to Kakashi and smiled at him. "For making me so happy. Minato had once asked me if I knew of anyone that might of liked me. And I asked him back why would anyone like me that way? For the longest time I thought I was...unlikeable. But slowly it seems everyone, especially you, have been proving otherwise." Naruto's smile grew wider as his eyes closed shut. "I've never been so happy in my life."

"Naruto..." A soft, loving look shined in Kakashi's eyes as he leaned in and kissed him softly while wrapping an arm around him to pull him closer.

Immediately Naruto wrapped his arms back around Kakashi so they were snuggled against each other. He ended the kiss and stared into Naruto's blue eyes. "You're not the only one. This is the happiest I've been in a long time. I'm glad you came to this village." Since Naruto appeared, it had been changing his life for the better.

"I'm glad too."

Never would he have thought he'd have the kind of life he had always dreamed of in a different timeline. For once, he actually felt complete. He had everything he could want. His dream was to become Hokage, but that dream seemed to dull in comparison of what he had now.

They both laid there together for awhile, simply enjoying the other's warmth and presence. At some point they both drifted off to sleep, wrapped in each other's embrace.

.

.

.

.

**TBC...**

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><p><strong>AN: Hurray! I finally got this done! I am so sorry...It's just hard to sit down and write when you're constantly busy then tired. I can't wait for this semester to end and be on vacation, though I'll just be working during my vacation anyway. I swear most of my clothes smell like donuts and coffee now...It's like the smell won't go away even after washing! Ah! DX **

**But anyway, thank you all so much for waiting patiently for this chapter! I think soon I'll be ending it :) I have it all pretty much planned out, and I'm also planning on doing an epilogue for it as well if the ending turns out exactly how I'm imagining it. Oh and Happy 2 year Anniversary! Can't believe it's been 2 years since I started this fanfic, and started writing in general! *pats self on the back* And thank you to everyone who has followed, read, and enjoyed this fanfic since it first began., and thanks to everyone who has followed and enjoyed it along the way! *hugs everyone***

**And it's also my anniversary with my boyfriend today! Today makes three years! Oh goodness xD I love him so much *-* Sadly we could not see each other today cause we both worked, but we shall be celebrating it together soon ;) **

**So thank you everyone! Please leave a review for me if you can ;) And I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving! **


	15. Chapter 15

**Hello my darlings! I'm finally back and yes I know it's been almost a year this time. Just keep in mind that I got a lot going on and do try to keep up with my writing. So updates do take awhile, longer than I want it to, but it can't be helped sometimes. x-x **

**I sent out a preview of this chapter to most of you, but couldn't get to all of you sadly. There...was a lot more reviews from the last chapter than I had expected so going through that and sending out to the ones that I could took more than an hour...lol Anyway, sorry for the wait and thank you again for all your wonderful reviews, and for following or favoriting :) Enjoy chapter 15! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. **

**~Come on Closer~**

So who knew that actually being around the person you liked and knowing they liked you back could be so _awkward_. It wasn't anything like this with Sakura. Currently, Naruto was in bed and had just woken up. It was incredibly comfortable and warm, and it was only a second after thinking this that Naruto noticed there was another body in the bed. Kakashi's body to be precise. While it actually was immensely pleasant to wake up with someone and not all alone, Naruto was acutely aware of his current position. Kakashi had an arm wrapped around his waist, their bodies pressed together rather intimately.

And they were completely entangled with each other.

And their faces were incredibly close.

Shit! Kakashi just moved a little bit and tightened his grip. From the very tips of his toes Naruto felt the heat rising all the way to his face. Now it was suddenly too warm. He needed to get out of there _now_, or he was going to pass out from embarrassment. That, or from how erratically his heart was fluttering in his chest. Whichever one came first, it was going to happen!

Just as he was about to wiggle his way out, Kakashi shifted a little and groaned. Naruto's eyes immediately snapped up to his face as the jounin breathed out a sigh, his breath practically caressing his cheeks.

Even with his face still quite flushed and the need to put a little distance between them, Naruto was stuck staring at Kakashi's face. His mask was still bunched up around his neck. Once again, Naruto was struck with awe at just being able to see the jounin's face. And he drank it in, eyes darting all around memorizing Kakashi's face, from his smooth skin, soft looking cheeks, slender nose, down to his lips.

The sudden desire to kiss him bubbled up inside, so he leaned forward and gently placed his lips on Kakashi's.

From just one tiny kiss sent a surge of immense happiness through him. He wanted, no needed _more_, but didn't pursue further. As much as he wanted to do more, Kakashi was still asleep, and he'd rather wait till he was awake. So with great reluctance, Naruto pulled away and sighed. He could wait, it wouldn't take that long. Until then he could do something like...make Kakashi breakfast! A grin spread across his lips, barely able to contain his sudden giddiness.

With some effort, Naruto wiggled his way out of Kakashi's clutches. He sat up and swung his feet off the bed when he was grabbed and yanked backwards.

"GAH!" Naruto flopped back onto the bed, staring up in shock at the face looming over his.

"Where are you going?"

"K-K-Kakashi! Did I wake you?"

"No, actually," he smirked, instantly drawing Naruto's eyes to his mouth, "I've been awake for the past ten minutes or so."

It took a couple seconds for that to sink in since Naruto was still stuck at staring at Kakashi's mouth but when it did, "What?!" His eyes widened to saucers, his face burning red. "So you were awake when I-" Naruto snapped his mouth shut and threw an arm over his eyes, unable to bare looking at the jounin.

Kakashi chuckled and pried the arm off of the genin's face. "Some shinobi you are. You couldn't tell that I was really awake?"

"Shut up!" Naruto glared up at the jounin. "I couldn't help it! I was too focused on-" He snapped his mouth shut again with a growl and averted his eyes.

"Focused on what?" Kakashi lifted an eyebrow when all he heard was grumbling from the genin. "Naruto..."

A glare was thrown up at him. "Your face alright! I'm still not used to seeing your whole face, it's weird!"

Kakashi snorted, "It's weird? Then I'll just put my mask back on-"

"No don't!" Naruto grabbed Kakashi's wrist as he was mid way to pulling up his mask. "I didn't mean weird as if it were bad, it's just that...um... "

While Naruto was getting more flustered, he missed the grin that flashed for a moment on the jounin's face. "It's just what?" Kakashi could barely mask the amusement from his voice.

Naruto scrunched his face up, finding the task to produce words difficult. "Just...never mind! Just don't put your mask back on!" Before Kakashi had the chance to say anything, Naruto shot to his feet and was already at the door.

"Come on let's get some breakfast then go train!"

With a little sigh, Kakashi waved the blonde off and told him he'd meet him in the kitchen in a few minutes. He flopped back down on the bed and played with the edge of his mask bundled up around his neck. It didn't take a genius to figure out what Naruto had meant. Kakashi just wanted to hear him say it.

Though pushing the genin into a corner may of been a little sadistic of him since this was all still very new to the blonde. Instead of advancing on him or pushing for answers, Kakashi should probably try to let Naruto go at his own pace. It would just be hard to be patient when Naruto could be so dense...

Ah well. That was one of his frustrating charms that Kakashi found to be a little endearing. More frustrating than endearing actually, but that's beside the point.

A loud clang from downstairs had Kakashi sighing in mild annoyance. Really he should of just known better than to leave the blonde to his own devices. In his kitchen no less. After a few moments of enjoying his comfortable bed, Kakashi got up and went to inspect whatever damage Naruto caused.

* * *

><p>Training had been quite an experience today. It still involved a hefty amount of competitiveness Naruto always possessed against his opponent (mainly against Kakashi), but today it held a considerable amount of <em>teasing<em>. Naruto didn't think he's ever seen Kakashi actually be playful before.

At least...as playful as someone like Kakashi could get. From a third perspective, their spar would be seen as normal, no funny business. However, between just the two of them in their own little world, there was so much more. Naruto couldn't exactly put his finger on it, but it felt like something was building.

This was nothing like before when he sparred with the jounin. A miss here or a taunt there didn't frustrate or annoy him like it would have before. Instead it spurred something deep in his gut. There was always a bit of an adrenalin rush when sparring, but today the thrill of it was starting to become a bit much that he didn't think he could handle it for much longer.

It only took a small lapse in Naruto's concentration for him to suddenly see the world flipped and then spitting out dirt and grass. Before he could even regain his wits, a weight settled roughly on his back, effectively pinning him down and a pair of hands restrained his.

"I win."

The smug tone in that voice both irked him and stirred something else deep inside. "Dammit Kakashi, get off!"

Naruto started to squirm and wiggle, trying to loosen the jounin's hold on him so he could throw the smug bastard off. But Kakashi only tightened his grip and chuckled. "Why? It actually took a lot of effort to finally pin you down. Besides," Kakashi leaned down a little, "as the victor, I deserve some sort of prize."

His body went completely rigid at feeling something wet licking at the shell of his ear, and hot puffs of air against it. The stirring he had felt before suddenly seemed to burst, heating his entire body and traveling straight down to his-_his_

Naruto swallowed hard and let out a harsher breathe of air than he had intended. Only a couple times before has he experienced this feeling of himself hardening. He wasn't that naive to know why and how, but he still never felt like this.

"K-Kakashi..." The weight and heat from the jounin practically melted right into him and it shocked him at how his body was responding to it.

Just as this warm haze started to make him feel light headed, Kakashi got off of him and sat down on his right side. Naruto looked up at him with half lidded eyes, his head still trying to gather it's wits from before.

"Kakashi?"

The jounin didn't answer, in fact he was looking away from him. Naruto tilted his head to get a better look at his face, wondering why Kakashi was suddenly so quiet. One thing he noticed even though the mask was pulled up again, was that the jounin's face was beet red.

"You alright?"

"Yeah...I'm fine. How 'bout another round before lunch?"

As the haze that hung over his senses started to fade, Naruto nodded with a grin and jumped to his feet. "Yosh! This time around I'll beat you! And then," Naruto's eyes glinted wickedly, "you'll be the one on your knees for me."

Kakashi had only just started to regain his composure until the object of his desire had to say something to send his heart into a frenzy. Sometimes he wondered if Naruto knew exactly what he was doing or really was just a naive idiot.

* * *

><p>After another round Naruto was a little frustrated he couldn't make due on his promise. But even though he hadn't been able to, something became quite apparent to him that had him fallen into a sullen state. Their spar was exhilarating, and afterwards Naruto was laying flat on his back from exhaustion. Kakashi was in a similar state, but Naruto just couldn't help but notice...<p>

Kakashi was just a tiny bit slower than he was before he lost his eye. His reaction time wasn't like what it was before.

This could just be because the jounin was still recovering from being out of the hospital, after all, he had over done it not that long ago and collapsed. So this was no different. However, it just reminded him of the fact that Kakashi didn't have the sharingan this time around. And Naruto couldn't help but wonder how he'll become. It was always the same problem over and over again that popped back into his mind, one that he thought he had resolved on his own.

These pesky thoughts refused to bury themselves and leave him at peace. And even with the comforting thought of Obito still alive, it didn't lessen the amount of guilt that would occasionally rear its ugly head every time Naruto thought about Kakashi losing his sharingan.

"Naruto?"

Slowly, blue eyes opened up and looked at the jounin staring down at him.

"You feeling alright? You suddenly went quiet."

With a soft grunt, Naruto propped himself up on his elbows and smiled at Kakashi reassuringly. "I'm fine just a little tired and hungry now ehehehe."

The long observing stare he received told him the jounin didn't believe him. Naruto sighed and sat up completely, sitting Indian style. "Ne Kakashi...have you asked Minato yet about teaching you the Hiraishin?"

That was the only thing Naruto could think of that could ever come close to making up for the loss of Kakashi's sharingan, and he could only hope that it would work. He himself had wanted to learn the Hiraishin, but Naruto would rather Minato focus all his attention on Kakashi in training him.

Kakashi regarded him carefully as he nodded. "I did. He wasn't all too sure about your idea working though, but he agreed to start training me once his honey moon was over. Even if it ends up not helping me with the Chidori, it'd still be a deadly skill to have."

That lifted a little bit of the guilt off of his shoulders. At least Minato was going to teach him. And Kakashi was right, just having the Hiraishin in his arsenal of jutsu would be good to have. Naruto smiled, "That's great! I bet you can't wait to start training right?"

"I guess."

"You guess?" Naruto squinted his eyes at the jounin and frowned. "You should be overwhelmed! You'll be the first for Minato to pass down the Hiraishin to! It's such an honor!"

"I know that but," Kakashi's eyebrows furrowed with what seemed to be agitation, and narrowed his eyes at him almost in an accusing sort of way, "_you_ had asked Minato to teach you fuuinjutsu first. He would of taught you Hiraishin too, you'd be the better choice to have it passed down to as well. Why won't you even let Minato-sensei teach you too?"

"It's not that I don't _want_ to learn it, it's just," Naruto's eyes trailed off to the side, "I just want Minato to focus on you instead. You need it more so you can fully master your Chidori."

"We don't even know if that'll work. Minato can train us both so-"

"No!" Naruto hadn't meant for that to sound so forceful, but he really wished Kakashi would drop it for now. He had already interfered so much already, this was the only way he thought that could fix at least _this_ for Kakashi. He didn't want to be in the way, or hinder his training.

"I don't understand why you're so hung up on me being able to master the chidori. One day I might find a way, but you shouldn't worry about that at all."

No that wouldn't be enough, at least not to him. Without fully realizing what he was doing, Naruto had leaned forward and cupped the left side of Kakashi's face, staring into the eye that looked as normal as his right eye. It wasn't all that noticeable unless you looked hard, or if light shined on it the right way, but Kakashi's left eye was actually just a tiny bit lighter than the other one.

Seeing that the jounin's eyes were still mismatched put him at a little bit of ease, but not by much. A sad smile spread on his face. "Just do it alright? After you've mastered the Hiraishin, then I might ask Minato to teach me, but lately I've been thinking that I should find my own style. Or even better, create my own jutsu instead. So just put your all into this ok?"

Giving up his chance to learn any kind of fuuinjutsu and even the Hiraishin from Minato actually sent a stab of pain through his chest. He had no idea why, but it still depressed him a little, but Naruto just knew that this was for the best. He had to give this up for Kakashi.

"Naruto..." Unconsciously Kakashi leaned into Naruto's hand. He grabbed the genin's wrist, gently pulling him closer. There was something so off with the blonde, but Kakashi couldn't figure out what. Something was bothering him, so much so that Kakashi could literally see the guilt in those blue eyes. Whatever it was, it wouldn't fade away unless Kakashi did this for Naruto. Though it still puzzled him as to why it was _this_ that seemed to trouble him.

All he knew was that it had to do with his Chidori and learning the Hiraishin. If it would erase all that guilt and shame in the genin's eyes, then he'd do it. For now though, all he wanted was Naruto to be closer, within his grasp-

"Oh ho ho! I knew you two had a thing for each other, but who knew you'd already be getting it on out in the open! Didn't take you kids to be exhibitionists!"

Like a rock shattering glass, the mood was destroyed. Naruto had flung himself so far away from him in less than a second when that pervert popped in. The hand he had been holding Naruto's wrist with clenched. With a glare that he _wished_ could kill, Kakashi hissed,_ "Why are you here?"_

"Don't get all pissed now that you've gotten coc-" A kunai whizzed by Jiraiya's head. He guffawed at the threat. "I only dropped in to let the brat know that in a couple days Minato and Kushina will be off of their honeymoon. But maybe now you don't want to return home so soon riiight?" Jiraiya waggled his eyebrows at Naruto whose face was a close resemblance to a tomato now.

"They are? It hasn't been a week yet..."

"Well don't forget they're shinobi squirt, very powerful assets to our village. We can't afford for them to be off duty for too long you know."

"Yeah I know..." Still though, Naruto kinda wanted to stick around with Kakashi for a bit longer.

"Well I'm off. Only stopped by to let you know brat. Enjoy the rest of your time with the Hatake here." Jiraiya waggled his eyebrows then poofed.

With the King of perverts gone, Kakashi sighed. The moment was lost between the two of them though. He glared at the stop the sannin was in just a few seconds ago and stood up.

"Let's get back to training."

* * *

><p>"I can't believe in a couple more days we'll have to be back on duty. I kind of want this to last just a little bit longer." Kushina sighed then buried her head into her pillow. She peeked up at her husband laying next to her. "Don't you want it to last a bit longer too?"<p>

"Hm? Oh, yeah it would be nice."

Kushina's eyebrow twitched. "That didn't sound very convincing."

"Hm?" Minato looked over at his wife only to have a pillow shoved in his face.

"Minato! What the hell is on your mind that you can't even give me a proper response!"

"Ahaha, sorry," Minato removed the pillow from his face and grinned apologetically, "it would be nice to stay a bit longer yes, I was just thinking about Naruto and how he's doing."

Instantly Kushina's bad mood brightened, "I miss my little Naru-chan. I'm sure he's doing alright though. He's staying with Kakashi and those two seem to have gotten much closer since that last mission."

"They have..." Minato stared across the room with a thoughtful expression before looking towards his wife. "Did you know Kakashi...has feelings for Naruto?"

"What?" Kushina's eyes widened, but then tried to recall if she had ever noticed this or not. "When did you find that out?"

Minato sighed but grinned nonetheless as he remembered Jiraiya's prediction. "Well, perhaps for quite some time now even though back then I didn't really believe it despite seeing the signs. Jiraiya noticed it first, and he was spot on right from the get go."

"_Jiraiya_? That old pervert saw it coming first?" Kushina suddenly overcame her surprise at these news and became angry. "Did Jiraiya interfere with those two at all? He better not have-" She gasped and sat up in bed, uncaring that her chest was now exposed.

"He did! That no good pervert! He was the one that told Naruto he should give us time alone! Oh I knew we shouldn't have, I didn't want that sweet boy to listen to whatever that bastard had to say! I'm gonna pummel his face in!"

Minato barely listened to his wife's rant, being too occupied with other enticing things, but snapped out of it when Kushina made to move out of the bed to make true on her threat. "Calm down Kushina, don't go rushing off in a frenzy." The last thing he needed was his wife running through the village completely naked...

He pulled her back under the covers and wrapped his arms around her waist and chuckled against her struggles. "You can beat him up after our honeymoon is over."

Kushina huffed indignantly but settled into Minato's arms with a sigh. She glared off at the wall, quietly thinking for a few moments. "Well...how come you didn't tell me this till now?"

With a sigh, Minato rested his chin on the top of his wife's head. "I was only completely certain of Kakashi's feelings right after our wedding. I didn't know how you'd react or if you'd even let Naruto go stay with him if you knew."

"What, did you think I'd oppose the relationship or something?"

Minato shrugged. "I don't know. You're always unpredictable. Sometimes I think I know what move you're going to make, only for you to throw me for a loop and do something I would of never expected."

It was hard for Kushina not to giggle at that, despite being a little irritated for not being informed about this from the start. Minato smiled as she giggled and kissed the top of her head. Sighing through her nose, Kushina turned around in his arms so she was facing Minato.

"I'm not against those two being together. I'm shocked though...I knew how much Kakashi despised Naruto. But I saw a change in him when you all came back safely. I just...I'm still amazed at how it progressed into Kakashi having feelings for Naruto. Does Naruto even know?" Kushina sat up a little, "Do you think Naruto likes him back?"

"You're taking it better than I did. I don't know if Naruto knows or even where he stands in all of it. I'm just certain on Kakashi's feelings since I did have a talk with him before we left."

"I'm taking it better?" Kushina smirked. "How did you take it? Don't tell me you were being overprotective and frightened poor Kakashi with death threats if he hurt Naruto in anyway."

A small tint of red dusted Minato's cheeks as he looked off to the side defensively. "I didn't threaten him. Even if I kinda did think about it..." he muttered.

"Aha!"

Minato glared at his wife before rolling his eyes. "I just told Kakashi to take it seriously. I think this is good for the both of them really. Do you remember what Naruto had said before? How he thought no one could ever love him?"

Solemnly Kushina nodded. She remembered that all too well, and how it tugged harshly at her heart. "Yes. And I see what you mean with it being good for the both of them. Despite being such polar opposites, they really are good for each other. Naruto just has this way of making such an impact on people's lives. Even ours." She smiled fondly at the thought of her little sweetheart.

"Mhm." Minato smiled too, but it slowly faded as something else that has been on the back of his mind for awhile. "There was something that I came to realize back then when I had that discussion with Naruto. We know next to nothing of his past, and I haven't put in any effort to pry, but it keeps nagging at me all the same."

Kushina looked up at Minato curiously. "What is it?"

"Kushina..." Minato looked her in the eyes carefully, "Judging from what we know, wouldn't you say Naruto seems a little bit...eerily similar to you maybe?"

"...What are you saying exactly?"

Minato sighed heavily and looked away with a forlorn expression. "It made me wonder if...if Naruto might possibly be a jinchuuriki too. There's no concrete or reliable evidence for this, I have nothing to really go by except for a very strong hunch."

Kushina remained quiet, but then started shaking her head. "No. _No_."

"Kushina-" Minato started to say, but was pushed back as his wife moved out of his arms.

"I don't even want to think about it." She turned over to face away from him. "Why would you even _think_ that?"

Minato sighed, and looked up at the ceiling. "Well because. It's obvious he's been abused, very badly too. It seems he has no parents, or never even knew his real ones. Kushina, he thought no one could ever _love_ him. In the Grass village he said they called him a monster-"

"The Grass village doesn't even have a jinchuuriki."

"I know that, but-"

"_Stop!_ Just _stop_."

At the sudden hysteric tone, Minato looked down only to see Kushina wiping around her eyes. He couldn't clearly see her face, but he knew she was crying...

"I'm sorry..." Bringing up something like this was always a sensitive topic. He knew how much it bothered her, yet he had still continued on anyway.

Kushina started shaking her head again, and pulled the sheets closer to her, curling in on herself. "It's okay. I'm just...I," she sniffed and breathed in shakily, "I've come to terms with my status as a jinchuuriki. There's nothing I can do about it except to smile and cope with it. It's my burden I happily carry to ensure the safety of Konoha, but-" Kushina's shoulders trembled in the effort to keep herself somewhat composed.

"But the thought of Naruto being one too...I don't know, my heart suddenly just stopped, and I felt this overwhelming feeling of grief. You know what it was like for me. My childhood was rough, I barely even knew my parents. Right from a young age I was given this responsibility that I couldn't refuse. It was so hard back then, and I was so alone. I wasn't treated like a human being, or even a shinobi. Just a container. No one thought to look past that fact."

Kushina breathed in slowly a few times, then turned around to look at Minato, tears welled up in her eyes. "Except you. You looked past it easy. If it weren't for you-" her voice cracked.

Minato cupped her face and wiped the tears away with his thumb. "I know Kushina. I know..."

"I hope you're wrong." Kushina buried her face into the crook of Minato's neck. "Cause if you're right, then I can only imagine how horrible it was for Naruto in that village. How lonely he must of felt. Oh god Minato, no wonder he had no problem leaving that village so easily, in the middle of a war no less! I always thought it was suspicious that he could just cut all ties to his birth village, especially at his age. It just didn't make sense, but I ignored it, because from the moment I saw him I just fell in love with him. So hard and so fast, as if he was truly my own!"

Kushina choked up, and bit back a sob. "I could see it in his eyes too. He's gone through so much. Every day I just wanted to shower him with love, make him feel wanted and less lonely. I wanted to give him what I needed the most back then. What you gave to me!"

Now Kushina was crying, completely distraught at the very thought of her sweet boy carrying the same burden as her. Minato held her tightly, his eyes downcast and misty as he listened. He knew all too well how hard the burden of a jinchuuriki is. From the moment he laid eyes on the boy when he found him, his heart skipped a beat and immediately he became attached.

He broke one of the most important and most basic rules of a shinobi. Never get attached too quickly, if at all. It caused problems and could lead to death in the long run. But with Naruto it was inevitable. Minato couldn't fathom why that was the case, it just was. And it seemed it was the exact same with Kushina. In the back of his mind, Minato wondered if this was what a parents love for their child felt like.

Slowly, Kushina started to calm down and eventually stopped crying, but her thoughts were still in turmoil. "Do you think...that's why Naruto never talks about his past or the Grass village? Because he doesn't want us to know in fear that we'll stop loving him? That we'll stop caring if we knew?"

"I don't know...I hope I'm wrong."

"But if you're right and he is, we have to let him know. That no matter what we love him."

Minato nodded. "We'd probably have to tell him about you too though."

"Of course. I wouldn't leave him in the dark, he deserves to know."

They both drifted into a silence, lost in their own thoughts until Kushina whispered, "What do you think his real parents were like? Do you think they'd love him just as much as us or..."

Minato stared blankly into space. "I don't know. I get the feeling Naruto never even knew his parents to begin with."

"Do you think we're good enough for him?"

"I hope so."

"Minato?"

He looked down at Kushina curiously, "Yeah?"

"Before...I had always thought how wonderful it would be to have a baby. I always wanted my own family, my own child. But now, I think I don't want to have one. Naruto is enough."

Minato's eyes widened in shock. "K-Kushina! Are you sure about this? Don't you think it's too soon to decide right now? What if Naruto wants a sibling?"

"No, I've decided. I don't want to have child, not unless Naruto really wants a sibling. I'd gladly give it to him. Other than that, then no. Besides, it's better this way. Naruto coming into our lives was perfect. You know a female jinchuuriki getting pregnant is risky and dangerous. That was always my biggest concern since the day I knew I wanted a child one day in my life. He's given us exactly what we want, why try for another? I want all our love to focus on just him and only him."

For a bit, Minato was stunned not knowing what to say, but quickly found that he agreed. Naruto was enough for them. He just hoped they were good enough for Naruto.

* * *

><p>Ever since Jiraiya had left the two of them after delivering the message that their time was almost up, Kakashi had become quiet and seemed to be brooding. Naruto couldn't really blame him though if Kakashi was thinking along the same line he was thinking.<p>

He liked living with the jounin. It felt nice being around the person you liked so much. When would they ever get to spend this kind of time together again? Once Kushina and Minato came back, they'd most certainly pick up missions again and be busy all the time.

That thought really brought his mood down and made him feel a bit depressed. He and Kakashi just got together, Naruto didn't want to part with him in the next couple of days. He watched as Kakashi went into the living room and sat on the couch. Naruto followed him and took a seat next to him.

Silence hung in the air between them as they both stared at the black TV screen. Naruto's eyes slowly drifted around the room feeling a little bored. He glanced to his side to where Kakashi was sitting, who was now actually reading the book he had got him. The very one he refused to let Naruto read.

It suddenly irked him just then. Kakashi wouldn't let him read the book and also wasn't paying him any attention. They didn't have much time left together and here the jounin was practically ignoring him! Naruto wasn't going to have that.

He turned towards the jounin and grabbed the book to pull it away. Immediately he was met with resistance as Kakashi looked over the rim of the book to stare at him questioningly.

"What is it Naruto?"

The sudden need to be kissed and touched by the jounin burned his insides. Naruto wanted all his attention on him, but had no idea on how to voice this. He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out, instead his cheeks started to become flushed in embarrassment.

Kakashi's eyes widened upon seeing a look filled with such innocent need in those cerulean orbs. At first he had thought Naruto was trying to take the book from him so he could read it. He wouldn't have allowed it because it was still much to embarrassing for him to show to Naruto. Especially since he's shamefully become hooked to it now.

Instead though, the look on Naruto's face had his heart beat quicken. He swallowed as e leaned closer to the genin. Again he asked, "What is it Naruto?"

"Kakashi...c-can you-um..." the blonde's cheeks darkened in color, "could you, just again maybe um...kiss...me?"

It was hard to decipher what the blonde was saying, because he trailed off on the last part, but Kakashi quickly processed it. So Naruto wanted him to kiss him? Basically, he just wanted all his attention right now. A smirk tried to tug at the corner of his lips, but he managed to keep a straight face.

"No."

Naruto blinked then felt his heart practically deflate. "No?"

"No." Kakashi repeated. "I want you to kiss _me_."

Right away his heart swelled again even though a flush crept all the way up to his ears. "Alright, fine!" Gaining some of his confidence back even though his gut was in a bundle of knots, Naruto stared at the jounin in front of him as he reached out to pull his mask down.

Seeing his face again sent a surge of giddiness through him. How many people have ever laid eyes on the Hatake's face before? Naruto was more than just pleased and smug to know he was one of the few if not only one. And seeing challenging smirk plastered on his face drove Naruto to lean forward and kiss him.

It was by all means an innocent peck, Naruto didn't know what else to do. All he had to go by was from what he remembered Kakashi would do. With a tiny smirk of his own when he felt the jounin return the kiss, Naruto bit his bottom lip.

The little nip was unexpected and made Kakashi groan. He deepened the kiss himself and gently led the way. It was obvious the genin wasn't all that experienced. Kakashi wasn't exactly any better off, but that book certainly opened doors for him he never thought existed. With his mind wandering into such places and suddenly taking notice that Naruto had at some point crawled onto his lap, Kakashi felt a stirring in his lower regions. With a grunt he pulled away.

"Why'd you stop?" Naruto whined.

Kakashi shifted uncomfortably, not wanting Naruto to see or feel his little problem. "Nothing. But we should go to bed alright? It's getting late."

Naruto stared at him suspiciously, but reluctantly got off. "You're right, it is getting late."

With a relieved sigh, Kakashi straightened himself and carefully got up. "I'm going to take a shower, you can take your turn after 'kay?"

Naruto nodded and watched as Kakashi walked into the hall to the bathroom.

Once he was out of sight, Naruto flopped backwards onto the couch and stared up at the ceiling. His body was still thrumming with heat and an indescribable feeling. He just knew that he was on floating on the edge of something, like if he and Kakashi had just continued what they were doing it would build and build into something even better. And now that the jounin went to shower, Naruto felt as if he was left strung up and didn't know what to do about it.

He huffed and tried to find something to distract himself with. Watching TV didn't sound all that appealing, he never could find anything interesting. His bored gaze slowly looked around the room, thinking of what to do to pass the time till it was his turn to take a shower, when his eyes landed on Kakashi's book.

For a good minute, Naruto stared at the book till a wide mischievous grin spread across his whiskered face.

.

.

.

.

**TBC...**

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Well it most certainly has been almost an entire year since I last updated. Forgive me haha...As I said to some people in PMs, I won't abandon this fic, or any of my other ongoing ones either. It just takes time to write cause I have less free time to do so nowadays. But thank you all so much for the support, you've all been so wonderful. **

**And a huge thanks to my friend Dana-Eliza who has encouraged, supported, and pushed me the whole time to write write write! She was always there when I needed her, even when I'm sure I was a little bit of a pain in the ass lol Some of you may know of her too, especially from her most popular fic **_**Crossing the Distance**_**. If you haven't heard of her, check out her fics ;D She's a fantastic writer :) (And updates way more frequently than I do, seriously, you'd adore that gal) **

**Anyway, hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and until next time! **


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